Never, Never
by Invisiblegirl3
Summary: He's the king of the toerags, she's the world's most perfect prefect, and everyone just wishes they'd shut up already about how insufferable the other one is. James has finally decided to give up the chase, just as, unbeknownst to him, Lily had begun to fall. Magical mishaps ensue, and everyone questions whether promises are really worth keeping. Disclaimer: I'm not Rowling.
1. Chapter 1

**Soliloquized Realizations **

**(a prologue of sorts)**

Lily Evans had always hated the color orange.

On the left side of the second floor girls bathroom stood The Fountain. Who had first coined this term, no students were quite sure. As far as the teachers knew, it had been present since before even they had first stepped into Hogwarts`s great halls (and Great Hall), and this only added to its ominous infamy. One thing was for certain, although The Fountain was neither a source of water nor a door to an underground lair, like the actual fountain in the bathroom one floor down, it contained its fair share of secrets. It was, in fact, the most secretive yet discussed wall in Hogwarts, and practically holy text for the younger female population of the school. It was, in the (often sarcastic) words of many, a true fountain of knowledge.

In its many years of service to the school, The Fountain was home to a plethora of gossip, love declarations, song lyrics, lists, hate, crude drawings, monumental engravings, poems, and even some jokes among friends. Over time, each new generation covered up the work of the last, once or twice being painted over completely by the school in a failed attempt to stop the legacy, until it was the collage of disarray that stood proudly before Lily as she mulled over the vibrant orange statement with mixed emotions.

Earlier that day the sixth year had been drifting off in class, thinking about all the snowball fights and midnight adventures that surely awaited her during the upcoming winter break. It would be the penultimate break for her and her friends, so if she knew her roommates (which after six years of constant, live-in experience, she definitely did), they had something extraordinary up their dynamic sleeves.

But thinking about the two years they had left reminded Lily of all the crazy things they used to do, like the time they`d snuck into Slughorn`s office in pursuit of a cat, or when Alice was convinced she could train a unicorn she found in the woods, or the year they`d spend the entire train ride to school running from Ravenclaws. There had been a time they each had often feigned needing to go to the bathroom just to check out the daily splattering of messages scrawled across The Fountain, and the news and entertainment it provided was a large topic of conversation.

Lily hadn`t voluntarily checked out The Fountain in months, and so it was that her nostalgic subconscious led her there on a brief detour, and she stumbled upon the six words she was least expecting to see together.

The glittery orange ink was high among the splattering`s of almost nonsensical interactions that The Fountain was famous for, unapologetically and undisputedly sitting there. It was not meant as rude, or mean, or snobby, Lily figured. The author, who swirled her y`s and hearted her i`s, had probably just written it as an opinion, or even in their eyes, a fact, figuring it was next to impossible that Lily Evans herself would stumble upon it before it was covered up by a fresh round of gossip. Lily Evans, after all, had much more important things to do, and what were the odds she would deign herself to glancing at a such things like The Fountain during the short period of time in which it contained incriminating information about herself?

And yet, there she was…and more importantly, there _it_ was.

_Lily Evans totally fancies James Potter_

At her first glance, Lily rolled her eyes and wondered if she should cross it out. But that, naturally, would have been a rookie mistake. Blacking out gossip on The Fountain would just draw unwanted attention to it, and besides, everyone knew simple erasing spells to take away the offending scribbles over top. Besides, interacting with it would just make people more assured of it`s possible nonfictionality.

Was it fiction, though?

Of course. Lily Evans didn't fancy James Potter. It was impossible, horrifyingly unimaginable, and James had the bruises (psychologically and physically) to prove it. Everyone knew that, and everyone believed it, except for James himself, the user of the orange glitter quill, and the occasional Remus Lupin and Sirius Black.

As she was dismissing this (highly fictitious) statement from her head, something caught in her mind.

Several quick memories flashed in secession, before she could suppress them. James at the beginning of sixth year, offering her an ingredient she`d needed for a potion but forgotten in her dorm so she didn`t fail the pop quiz. The rush she got from the daily insults she hurled his way, and the glint of familiarity she saw in his eyes that made it feel almost (but not quite) like friendly satire. Lastly and most prominently, she saw him sitting next to her on the owlery floor, exchanging secrets under a rare flag of truce.

Shaking the memories away, Lily reminded herself that what had happened that night in the owlery was a onetime thing, a freak occurrence, and a complete and utter secret. Not even Alice knew about that, and Lily was pretty sure both she and James wanted it to stay that way. Besides the shattering of her reputation, Lily wasn`t sure what the leak of this information could do. It was a Pandora`s box she was terrified to open.

But Lily was a Gryffindor, and Gryffindors were meant to face their fears.

Lily Evans did _not_ like James Potter. There was years of evidence, from bruises to doors that were busted from years of slamming, crumpled notes to declarations on The Fountain. Yet it was that very wall that the only statement standing against this resided, orange and completely controversially unquestionably untrue.

_Lily Evans totally fancies James Potter_

Was it, though? Really?

_Lily Evans totally fancies James Potter_

Did she?

Lily cleared her mind of all the facts, old promises, and memories, trying to look at the passage in the most unbiased way possible.

_Lily Evans totally fancies James Potter_

Reasonably speaking, from an outsider point of view, there was no possible way this could be true.

But, Lily though, as she remember the best lies are the ones you tell yourself, she was no outsider.

Looking back on her life, Lily would later think of this one moment, staring up at the glittery orange ink, as the moment her whole world went upside-down, never to be the same again.

All it took, in the end, was two words.

_Why not?_

* * *

**A/N: In order to get some necessary context for this story, I`d suggest reading The Cliched Challenge and Heartless Affections, which will provide some important background knowledge for the full understanding and enjoyment of this. Heartless Affections centers around a chain of anecdotal events involving Lily, Sirius, and James in forth year, and the Cliched Challenge, which takes place just a few weeks before the start of this story, is about a particularly disastrous contest. **


	2. Chapter 2

** Wintry Resolutions**

"He`s coming!" Sirius whispered loudly and completely un-covertly, shoving James into the nearest empty room (of which Potter Manor had an overabundance).

James held the door shut with one hand, and smacked his best friend with the other. "Could you be any louder?"

"Shhh!" Sirius crouched down and tilted his head, waiting for a telltale shadow or foot to appear in the crack under the door.

Leaning against the door and rolling his eyes, James whispered back, "You know you`re not going to be able to see anything through that, right? It just makes you look ridiculous."

"We wouldn`t have to miss the action if _somebody_ had remembered to pack their invisibility cloak."

Before the conversation could escalate any further, the duo was startled by a creaking sound down the corridor, which was followed by several loud thumps, and then coughing.

"What in Merlin`s…Uhhhhh!"

Exchanging a look of pure joy, James and Sirius both leaned against the door with all of their weight as a torrent of erratic snowballs hit their mark on the other side of the wall.

After a minute, the noise stopped, but neither of the two relaxed. Seconds ticked by with only the deafening sound of their own hearts pounding in their ears, before James gathered up the courage to breathe.

"Do you think he`s gone?"

Pop.

"Merry Christmas to you too." Said the sarcastic snowman that appeared behind them.

"AHHHH!" Both of the Marauders jumped ten feet in the air at the sight of the snowy ruffian.

"Merlin`s toenail, Connor! You`re lucky Pete isn't here, he`d have combusted."

"Have you been taking sneaking lessons from the house elves?"

James` cousin grinned manically at his unintended revenge, and brushed the snow from his clothes. "You`ve been getting better with the pranks, Jamesy, but I suppose you learn from the best."

"Learn from the best? We are the best. Sorry mate, you were surpassed several years ago."

Sirius knocked on Connor`s snow covered head, saying "Hello? Remember Gryffindor Take Over, second year, when you saluted us as The Greatest Prankmasters To Ever Live?"

Connor shook his snowy head at Sirius, and smiled, remembering that week fondly. "Yeah, yeah. Well played, you two. Anyway, the only thing I`d suggest is casting disillusion charms on each other so you could see the moment of impact."

"Disillusion charms!" James and Sirius smacked their foreheads and yelled at the same time.

Connor stifled a sneer. "Do you two practice that or something?"

* * *

"Oh good, we needed another player. Your turn, Lily." Melody announced as Lily stepped inside the dorm, fresh from the library. Well, technically she was fresh from the second floor girl`s bathroom, where she`d stopped in to take another look at some orange graffiti, but she certainly wasn`t going to be admitting to that.

Setting down her high stack of books, she asked, "Why does it have to be my turn? I just got here."

"The rest of us have already gone, silly. Come on, if you`re going to stay here over the holidays, you`ve got to have fun sometimes."

"The library is fun." Lily pretended to take offense, turning her back on them and starting to fold laundry.

"Lils… please?"

"Fine. What game is it anyway?"

"Two truths and a lie. In a quick recap, Mary just correctly identified Alice`s lie, which is that Alice claimed to have a great uncle who used to be besties with Dumbledore."

"Oh, and we disproved one of Mattie`s truths, so now she owes us a revealing truth a later date."

Mattie shrugged. "Turns out Marlene did ask me to slip Denny Flint that exploding tart. I always thought it was Jill…"

"Anyway, Lily`s turn!" Mary declared.

* * *

It seemed like the three boys were the only ones in the world as they walked through the halls of the Potter manor. James was glad he wasn`t alone, because, although he would never tell Sirius this, his house was very empty and haunted feeling ever since his mum died. After his dad let most of the house elves go, things just got emptier and quieter. That is, until his two cousins and best friend came for the holidays. As the three boys walked in search of Diana and hot chocolate, James pretended his visitors were enough to keep the ghosts away.

"I seemed to remember more people in your posse last time I saw you. I suppose I must have thought Black`s ego was another person or two."

"Remus wanted to stay behind to study for the NEWTS…"

"I`d be surprised if he comes out of the Library to eat at all while we aren`t there"

"…and Peter is staying to make sure ol` Moony doesn`t starve himself to death over break by not leaving the library."

"Shockingly enough, James didn`t want to stay too."

"What do you mean, 'shockingly enough'?"

"Well, it`s common knowledge Evans was staying this year…."

James glared. "So?"

"Do I need to put it in fewer words for you?"

"Is Evans that red haired bird Jamesy`s been ga-ga for?

Snickering, Sirius nodded, while James seethed. "That`s more or less it, mate."

"I`ve given up on Evans, thank you very much."

"Wha…! Since when? But you two are soul mates!"

"Just look at the past few weeks; it`s clear she`ll never return my feelings, Padfoot. Every morning I wake up to some pumpkin juice and a fresh dose of daily death threats."

"Yeah, but you fire `em right back."

"That`s different."

* * *

Alice cleared her throat pointedly after a moment of silence.

"Okay, okay. I`m the maid of honor in Petunia`s wedding…. My mum thinks I should associate with more rule-abiding friends… and I fancy James Potter."

"Ha, good one Lils."

"Ooh, you saw The Fountain, huh? I`d like to know what potion the girl that wrote that was on."

"You really threw us off with that Petunia one at first."

"I think we all know which the lie is."

"That last one wouldn`t come true in a million years, you said so yourself."

"Okay, so Mary`s nex-"

"Wrong." Lily said quietly.

Alice came closer to her best friend. "Sorry Lils, did you say something? I didn`t quite hear you."

"You`re all wrong. I win."

"Really? That`s wonderful news. Why didn`t you tell us about your mum`s change of heart sooner?"

"Alice, that`s still wrong."

"Don`t be ridiculous. That would mean…. Merlin, you`ve got to be joking."

"Did you fall on your way out of the library?"

"Has Potter impervised you?"

Her friends rushed over to check her temperature, but Lily shoved them away playfully.

"Guys, stop it. I`ve though it over...maybe there is something wrong with me, but if there is, it`s been coming on slowly. At first I tried to rationalize otherwise, because there is no way I would fall for that nearsighted termite, especially after what happened in forth year-"

"Wait, wait, how long has this thing been going on?"

Lily started to fold a sweater, using it to avoid looking her friends in the eyes, but could not stop the blush that was beginning to creep over her cheeks. "You know in the beginning of the year, when you guys dared me to kiss Remus? Right about then."

"Nice timing." Mattie said, earning an elbow to the ribs. "Ow."

"Lily…Lily!" Alice slid across the bed so she could look her best friend in the eyes. "Oh my…oh my god. You would not be telling us this unless you were really serious about him. You love him, don`t you?"

Mel nodded slowly. "It does make sense, what with you two always at each other's throats. Who knew there was some sort of underlying passion thing going on underneath?"

"I can`t believe I didn`t see this earlier…" Breaking out into a big grin, Alice closed her eyes, as if already imagining Lily riding off into the sunset.

Lily tried to push her best friend away, and glanced at the door, at the very spot where she had first told him she didn`t love him, and never would. The spot where she`d sworn never, ever to fall for one of his tricks again. "Al, stop."

"Why are you in denial? He`s in love with you too, you know. It`s too bad he`s gone home for the holidays, you`ll have to owl him, or floo…"

"I`m not going to give him the satisfaction."

"What, of seeing show up in his fireplace, confessing your love? I know it sounds a bit pathetic, but he`s certainly done worse…"

"No, I mean I`m not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he`s won."

"So you admit you love him?" Mary said unhelpfully, receiving an icy glare.

Mattie sighed. "What are you going to do, oblivate yourself?"

"If that`s what it takes. Believe me; it will be much less painful in the long run. Either you can help me, or I`ll do it myself." Lily raised her wand, only to have it plucked out of her grasp by her roommates.

"As your best friend, I invoke the law of meddling. You, Lily, need to face the facts and get over this little pride thing of yours… face it, Lily, there`s no going back."

Plopping down on Melody`s bed, Lily stared out the window at the snowy grounds below and sighed. "Ugh. There`s definitely something wrong with me."

Melody flopped down next to her. "Love isn`t something you can choose. It`s tough, but sometimes it`s better if you just except it and try to work things out the best you can. It`s no use denying things, because you`ll just get more people hurt that way."

Lily rolled over to face her friends, feeling her resistance trickle out of her in a slow exhale. "Alright."

For several moments, the void in the conversation was filled only with the tranquil sound of the falling snow outside.

"You do love him, right?" Mary asked quietly.

"It`s complicated."

"Isn`t it always?"

Standing up, Lily mused, "Well, I still have that same, gut-hating anger."

"So it hasn`t evolved or anything?" Melody asked, feeling as though her hypothesis was flying out the window.

"It`s just…" Lily held her half-folded sweater close and leaned back against the bookshelf, lost in another worlds as her roommates held on to her every word. "You know how every day, Potter and I always exchanged insults?"

"How could we not? You`re always all 'Go stick your head in a plastic bag and die of asphyxiation', and he`s right back with, 'My blue tinged face would still be a lot better looking than yours, Evans'." Mattie piped up, and Alice elbowed her in the gut.

It was true. Ever since that day she`d awoken on the couch of the Gryffindor common room (a long and very clichéd story), Lily had been uncontrollably bickering with James Potter, even worse than the first five and a half years at Hogwarts. She`d always been brutal, but now she couldn`t stop herself from shooting out quips and put-downs.

"Just this morning, when I saw him at breakfast before he left, I said 'you know, if you set your head on fire, you`d get a trillion times more applause than winning a quiddich match would ever get you', but I realized as soon as the words left my mouth that what I really meant was…" Lily`s eyes hardened, and she glared at the four pairs of wide eyes. "Not a word of this is to leave this room, you hear me? I am not afraid to let lose all of your deepest darkest secrets to Amanda Peterson or the nearest gossipy fourth year!"

There was a brief pause, as the four all locked their lips with imaginary keys and threw them out the window.

"Well?"

Everyone stared at Mary, who blushed. "Sorry, I just wanted her to get on with it…"

After a few pointed looks, Lily continued, "What I meant to say was …." Blushing, her voice dropped to a whisper, but everyone in the room still heard. "…'I love you'…"

* * *

"When I say that stuff, it`s because it`s the only thing I can do anymore that gets that kind of reaction out of her. But I`m done."

"Done? You mean there has come a day when James Potter has grown out of arguing with Lily Evans? Let`s not spread this around much at school to many people, as in certain-Gryffindors-good -with-schemes people. You just cost me twenty quid, mate."

"I just can`t do it anymore." James collapsed onto the sofa. "It hurts too much not to tell her how I really feel when her eyes light up like that, and her hair… I have to stop torturing myself."

"And how do you feel?" provided Sirius.

James glared. "You know. Stop being such a psychiatrist."

"I don`t." Connor grinned wickedly. "Care to elaborate?"

"Have you been reading a dictionary? Has someone finally taught you to read?"

"_Prongs_."

"_Padfoot_." Mimicked James.

"…"

"Fine. I love her, you imps."

* * *

There was a gasp. A whispered "I knew it!" followed by a "Great, now I owe Black twenty quid…good thing we`re sworn to secrecy." which was followed by another swift blow to Mattie`s ribs.

"Are you going to tell him?" Melody asked. Lily was about to declare a negative, but remembering what Mel had said earlier, she though twice.

"I don`t know… Well, I know for certain I`m not going to floo to his house to tell him." She said, looking at Alice.

"But will you tell him?"

"It takes a lot of bravery to say something like that, so I wouldn`t blame her if…"

"Lily`s brave! She swam with a giant squid, for Merlin`s sake."

"This is mad…I can`t believe that after all this time…"

All Lily could do was chuckle quietly to herself. "I can`t believe it either. Do you know the maddest part about all of this?"

"What?"

"I think I`m going to tell him."

* * *

"I`m never going to tell her." He announced, sinking lower into the cushions. "I have to face the facts that she just doesn`t feel that way. I know I`m an idiot, an 'arrogant, ignorant, toerag', she`s told me herself. _She told me herself_, so many times, and yet I still thought she`d come around! No more! I`m going cold turkey!"

"Cold what?"

"It`s some muggle thing, where they cut off their addiction…"

"Good on you, James. Move on from this bird, she sounds no good for you if she`s made you go through all this pain and waste your time." Connor thumped his cousin on the back.

* * *

There was a shocked silence, and Lily laughed. "I know, right? I think `ve gone either completely mad or Sirius` 'predictions' have started to go to my head."

"What 'predictions'?"

"Oh, it`s nothing really. A couple weeks back Black told me I was going to marry James and asked to be the godfather of our firstborn."

"What did you say?"

"Well, I agreed, but he was totally plastered. Even if I do have a kid with James, he probably wouldn`t remember."

"Oh, Lily." Mattie shook her head in pity. "Never make that gamble. Believe me, that bloke`s got the memory of an elephant for things people agree to when he`s drunk. I had to write a potions essay for him once because I made a deal I thought he wouldn`t keep…"

Lily`s eyes widened, but before she could worry too much, Alice distracted her. "James Potter…. who knew?"

Mary smiled cheekily and waved. "I did!"

"You had _suspicions_. If you knew, you`d have placed money on it like the rest of us."

"Yeah, speaking of your gambling habits, how long has this been going on?" Lily asked, hands on hips.

"Welllllll…. Let`s just say that Sirius and I got verrry bored during a certain divination class, and might just have made over seventy predictions for the future…. and wrote them down…. with different amounts bet listed next to each of them." Mattie smile weakly, and inched away from the love-struck redhead, just in case.

"Give it here."

"No can do. I`m forbidden from doing anything major to change the course of events, tampering with bludgers to rig matches and such. I`m pretty sure giving you something that would make you commit a double murder falls under that category."

"What, did you predict each other`s deaths?"

Mattie did a double check, as if Death itself could be listening at the window. "He`s got sixty galleons and a muggle fiver on me dying on a Tuesday , or the cause of death being lightning, burned at the stake, or hippogriff. If it`s an angry mob though, he has to pay for a solid gold headstone for me."

"That sounds reasonable….anyway….Lils, about this confessing your love thing, when are you going to do this, if you`re not going to floo to his family`s house, because he`s there for the holidays."

"You`re not gonna just march up to him when he gets back, are you? Because angry marching is kind of your thing with him."

Lily glared. "Look, I`m not going to just spring it on him… I`ll find a time, just let me come to terms with this. By the way, please, please, please, _please _don`t say anything. I only told you guys because I honestly couldn`t keep it in anymore, and you guys are my best friends. I don`t know when I`m going to tell him, actually Alice, sorry, make that an _if_. You know, I once swore to myself I`d never do this." Lily took a deep breath, and settled down onto the windowsill. "I`ve rejected him for so long, how do I know that he doesn't actually hate me?"

Mattie had a brief fit of hysterics, and Melody rolled her eyes. "_Please_, Lily. Have you seen the way he looks at you when he thinks nobody`s watching?"

Blushing furiously in a way that made Mattie laugh even harder, Lily whispered, "Really?" as she broke out into a small smile. "Huh."

"Wow. No offense, Lils, but it would take a total idiot not to know what James has been telling you for years." stated Alice blatantly.

**LINE**

"No offense, Connor, but you`re a total idiot." Sirius stated with a shake of his head.

Connor sniffed. "Oh really? And who do you think you are, the almighty seer of relationships?"

"I don`t just think." Leaning over to James, he added, "_She_ took it better."

* * *

"First off, there is no way all those marriage proposals were real. He was just showing off for his friends. Second…okay, so Potter has professed his love on several occasions, but the last time was almost a year ago. How am I to know he hasn`t moved on?"

"Well," Smiled Melody, as if it was the easiest thing in the world. "You ask him."

"Ugh, do I have to? He`s going to be all pompous and smug about it."

"Lily…"

* * *

"Can we stop talking about her?"

Connor shrugged. "You brought it up, mate."

"Sirius brought it up!"

"No, you`re face brought it up. I only pointed it out. Besides, we`re not moving on until you`ve moved on."

"So then I`ll move on."

"From this girl, and all the trouble she`s caused you?" Connor prompted.

* * *

"Okay." Lily nodded.

* * *

"Okay." James stated solemnly, determined.

Sirius raised an eyebrow in a silent question.

"It has to be done."

* * *

With a deep breath, she proclaimed, "It has to be done."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who came over from my other stories (mostly Cliched Challenge and Heartless Affections)! I`m so happy that you seem to be liking this so far, I have big plans for this one and it is awesome that all of you have come over to support this new endeavor. **


	3. Chapter 3

**An Eve Of Diversions **

"Can`t you just get her a box of caldron cakes and a book instead?" Lily asked, knowing full well her suggestion was falling upon deaf ears, and peeked out down the hallway again. Still clear.

"Too bad ol' Mikey wasn`t a Slytherin, I`ve always wanted to go scuba diving in the Black Lake." Melody tightened the straps on her repelling harness and fiddled with the cables she`d connected to a desk.

"It`s a muggle way of breathing underwater." Lily clarified for Mattie, who was pureblood and clueless.

Lily was surprised that Peter was calmer than her. All that Marauding must have given him a certain amount of tolerance for stressful, pre-prank situations such as these. Even he though was having his doubts. "Are you sure breaking into her ex-boyfriend's dorm and doing…what exactly are you two doing, again?"

"It`s better if you didn`t know." Mattie said, tucking what appeared to be cheese whiz into her belt. "If we get caught, no matter what lie detecting spells McGonagall uses, she`ll find out you really were blissfully ignorant to what precisely we were doing. Standing guard, that is to say, slight assisting of a crime, is not an expellable offense. I`ve checked."

"That`s why you and Lilypop are staying up here, because you two are much more valuable and diligent students than we`ll ever be." Mel said, patting an eye rolling Lily on the head.

"That`s also coincidently why Remus opted out of this little excursion."

"Psh, no! He`s just distracting Mary for us. He knows we`d never ask him to do something _that_ bad…"

"Like how when one of your plans ended up with the three of us swimming with a giant squid, it wasn`t that bad? Or when Mel got turned into a cat and Alice had to spend the…"

"To be fair, nobody was really sure the squid existed before that."

"Like I was saying," Peter cut in before Lily could protest, "How do you know this is what Mary wants for Christmas? Isn`t it a bit…drastic?"

In response, Peter got three girls shaking their heads in the universal sign for 'Can you believe this guy?' "Where have you been for the last month? He cheated on her and tried to make it up to her in song while she was studying, and got both of them kicked out, so she had to finish her potions essay in the common room? Surely you`ve realized she`s been dismal for most of the past week and a half."

"Besides, you should know by now," Mel said dramatically, climbing up onto the ledge of the open window, facing them. "Drastic is our middle name."

Before Lily could be defiant and ask "Collectively?" Mel had took one step back and slipped out of sight. One terrible, fear filled moment passed as they all stared anxiously at the cables, which zipped furiously before pulling taught.

"Oh, Muggles and their many wonders, bless `em." Mattie smiled, before she too climbed onto the ledge, waved down to their unseen friend, took the stance of a swimmer on a diving board, and took the plunge.

* * *

"Oph." James managed, picking himself up from a particularly nasty landing. "That`s the last time Black takes the front."

"Agreed."

Sirius picked himself up, looking frankly ridiculous with the snow matted into his long hair. "You fools had it easy. Who do you think hit that snow bank first?"

Diana rolled over and winced. "Who do you think went flying due to your complete inability to steer?"

"Everyone."

"I call first for the next one." Connor exclaimed, trudging back up the hill.

Sirius charged up the hill, not about to let someone else take the lead. "First one to the top gets to decide!"

"Oh no you don`t." James roared, all-out sprinting up to the top. Snow clung to his boots, slowing him slightly, but the resistance was no match for the determination and endurance of a quiddich captain. It didn`t take long for him to charge ahead of his cousin and Sirius, the latter of which attempted to dive onto James` passing sled, but was only rewarded with a face full of snow.

Connor went for the more direct approach of tackling his cousin to the ground, ultimately succeeding sort term, but in the long run caused James to accidently tumble down the hill, Connor on his back, and Sirius tripping over them. Diana, who was focusing on pulling her sled out of the snow, failed to see the catastrophe accelerating towards her until it had plowed her over and exploded onto the snow bank in which her sled was trapped.

"Now don`t you agree this is so much better than sitting in the castle as Moony rotted our brains out with his homework?"

"Your friend sounds like the real life of the party. Too bad for that other guy that stayed behind." Diana commented, ruffling her hair in the Potter family way that just made it wilder.

"Poor Pete. We should have forced him to come with us, he`s probably jumped off the astronomy tower by now."

"Hopefully the girls managed to keep him entertained. You know Mattie and Mel."

"I don`t." Connor piped in.

Signing at the mention of what she could only assume were two of her cousin`s girlfriend wannabes, Diana retorted, "Let me guess, they`re the Hogwarts equivalent of table-dancing showgirls."

"There is a history of some slight table dancing for Mel, but not in a showgirl way…"

Sirius chuckled at the thought. "Showgirl is not a word I would use in reference to that particular dynamic duo…more like sociopathic. It`s hard to fully sum them up in one word, actually."

"Well, let`s just say they`re not the type to sitting around doing homework."

* * *

"I should have brought my charms homework." From her perch atop a desk, Lily could no longer hear the not-so-covert mutterings of her friends outside the window, which probably meant they`d managed to secure a way inside.

Peter got up and leaned out the window slightly, trying to catch a glimpse of any progress. "I`m holding them personally responsible if we miss dinner tonight. It`s Christmas Eve, after all, and I hear the house elves are making a roast."

She sighed. Sometimes it seemed like all boys had one main goal in life; eating. Lily was a bit more concerned at the moment about Mike or any of his roommates walking in on whatever _her_ roommates were doing down there. Or, almost as bad, someone walking into the empty classroom and seeing her and Peter standing guard over some ropes that just so happened to lead into the Hufflepuff dorms. "Too bad it would look to suspicious if one of us stood guard in the hall. I`m freaked out that somebody`s going to walk in at any moment."

"Oh! Do you want to go guard in the hall?" Peter asked, fumbling around in his robes.

"Um, yeah…I just said…"

"Here!" He said proudly, thrusting a blanket at her.

She took it from him, mostly out of worried fear that he might have finally cracked from pressure than anything else. "Thanks?"

"So…?"

"….What am I supposed to be doing with this?"

Peter`s mad grin transformed, after a flash of realization, into an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I though you knew! It`s an invisibility cloak."

"Really?" Unfurling it, Lily noticed it did seem to ebb out into nothingness along the edges. "Where did you get this?"

"It`s James`, he left it behind when he went home. Don`t worry, he won`t mind us borrowing it."

"This is so cool." Lily draped it over herself, and then walked over to the frosted windows to look at her nonexistent reflection. "Look at me, I`m a floating head! Man, you must have tons of fun with…_NO HE BLOODY DOESN`T_!"

Jumping back, Peter collided with a desk (thankfully not the one tied to Mattie and Mel`s repelling harnesses). "L-L-Lily?"

Her face was beet red. "Tell me," Lily hissed, "How long has Potter had this?"

"I dunno… first year, I think his dad gave it to him."

"Oh Merlin, and he knows how to get up to the girl`s dorms without tripping the slide… He`s been watching me sleep for years, hasn`t he? He probably watches everyone sleep! He probably watches us get dressed, ugh! That creep!"

Gulping, Peter shuffled from foot to foot, trying to channel his inner James and Sirius. "Why would you think he would want to watch you sleep? That`s a bit self-centered."

"Am I wrong, though? Stalker invisibility cloak plus _Potter_ plus his obsession with me… you fill in the blanks there, bucko."

"Really, Lily, we just use it to sneak into the kitchens after house and stuff like that. It`s nothing that bad. Now come on, are you going to stand guard or keep yelling so we get busted and Mary`s Christmas surprise gets ruined?"

"Fine." Lily grumbled, knowing he had a point but not quite ready to let this whole thing go. Flipping the cloak over herself, Lily continued her steaming all the way out into the hallway, where she slumped down, smoke still coming from her ears.

So James Potter had an invisibility cloak. What else did that freak have, x-ray glasses? She shuddered. They were going to have a talk when he got back.

Peeves flew by, clattering cutlery, thankfully not seeing her under the cloak, and Lily began to wonder whether Potter had ever kicked Mrs. Norris while invisible. Kicking kittens did seem like his kind of thing.

The fuming wore off after a couple of minutes, and just mellowed out into incandescent boredom. How long does it take to trash, or booby trap, or whatever it is Mel and Mattie were planning, to one Hufflepuff guy`s dorm?

Speaking of Hufflepuffs, Lily watched as a gaggle of them tromped past, laughing and singing carols. Lily smiled, thinking of her own gaggle of carol-singing friends. Her friends, unfortunately, were not as in tune as this cheery group. They poured more heart and, well, togetherness into it, though. Last year, Melody had organized a caroling sing-off among the Gryffindors that had stayed. Lily was in a group of five with Mel, Mattie, Emmeline, and Tricia. They might have made spectators wince, and they certainly didn`t win, but they belted it out as loud and proud as they could, and was beaten only by the Marauders themselves in the Holiday cheer category (Potter always was competitive, and who knew they could choreograph that many house elves in such short notice?).

While reminiscing over Christmas(es) past, Lily almost failed to see Donald Hornbridge, seventh year and Slytherin prefect, round the corner. He was walking quite swiftly, his face a festive complement to his uniform, and when she did see him, Lily assumed he was just passing through. That is, up until he bellowed, "Peeves! I`ll call the Bloody Baron, I swear!"

For a moment, she relaxed; glad someone else was forced to gallivant after the ghost for a change. Donald stomped past, headed directly for an empty classroom, from which a quiet clanging noise was coming from.

_Peter`s_ empty classroom, where, out the window, Mattie and Mel must be having trouble reconnecting their harnesses, causing a slight clanging noise…

Lily leapt up, bolting for the classroom. Thanks to the 'no running in the halls' rule that basically only prefects (like Donald, and Lily too if she were not otherwise invisible and in a state of crisis) adhere to, she was able to duck into the room with seconds to spare. Whipping off the cloak, she tossed it over the gear-laden desk. Peter was giving her a questioning look, and with a million different alibis running through her mind and no time to explain about the Slytherin hot in pursuit, Lily did the one thing she knew was most likely to drive away a prefect, diverting attention from the incriminating happenings, and quickly explain why two people were alone in a unused room.

In the last ten fractions of a second before Donald`s reflection appeared in the frosted glass, Lily grabbed Peter by the tie, pulled him close, and smashed his lips to hers.

As Lily closed her eyes and prayed that Donald would realize his mistake before he saw the missing desk. And Merlin, this was the third Marauder she`d kissed. It was becoming almost a bad habit. No so bad, she remembered, because if the trend continued, she might finally kiss the one she`d been waiting for.

* * *

It hit him like a bludger to the chest, more shock than pain really.

"Alright mate, you`re really asking for it now!" James roared, unleashing his full fury on his traitorous friend.

"Every man for himself, Prongsy!" Sirius replied, rolling out of the way of the cascade of snowballs. Diana took advantage of James` turned back to let loose a torrent of her own.

Dropping to the ground, James slid the rest of the way down the hill penguin style, since his sled, long abandoned, was under Sirius. Unfortunately, once Sirius, Diana, and Connor had their fill of beating the brains (of which they had little to spare) out of each other, their attention turned back to James.

"Trying to pull a runner, cuz?"

Since they had sleds, James knew he didn`t stand a chance trying to outrun them on the hill, so he turned instead into the vast gardens that surrounded Potter Manor, knowing there were plenty of bushes in which he could hide until he had the chance to build up enough ammo for a proper ambush.

Walking swiftly through the maze of flowers, James made a right turn at the fountain when he heard voices behind him, followed by the thump of snowballs hitting their mark. Not wanting to be next, he took off in a sprint and dove into the nearest bush. He wasn`t a moment too soon either, because just as James got his bearings, he saw Connor race past, evidently too busy escaping Sirius to notice the tracks in the snow. Luckily for James, he covered up James` footprints with his own, securing James` hiding place.

Looking around, James tried to figure out how far from the house he was. The fountain was circular, which made it hard to determine exactly where he was, but by James` knowledge of the grounds, he was either right next to the tulip bed or the…

Lilies.

Lily.

How hard was it to get one stupid girl out of his head?

Lily.

* * *

"Evans?"

Lily broke apart from Peter, took a deep breath, and turned to face Donald with the ditsiest and most innocent face she could pull. With her eyes wide, Lily blushed (not that hard to fake) and asked, "Yes?"

He shook his head, with a small smirk that seemed to say 'kids these days'. "I never thought I`d catch you in an empty classroom. I`ll let you two off today, since it`s Christmas Eve and all… Did either of you happen to see Peeves pass through here?"

Smiling and inclined head slightly towards the right, Lily held back a victory dance. They`d got of insanely easy, what with being caught by the only Slytherin prefect who didn`t demote points based on blood status. Donald took off in the direction on the head tilt, and Lily silently counted to ten before peeking out the window.

The dynamic duo was halfway through pulling themselves back up, and had obviously been just beneath the ledge during the close call.

"All set?" Mattie asked innocently, as if she hadn`t just listened in on the events that had transpired moments ago.

Rolling her eyes, Lily replied, "He`s gone, if that`s what you mean."

"Reel us up?" Mel said, adjusting her gloved hands on the ropes. "I don`t want to accidently drop any telltale slack in the line while climbing back in."

Peter was already fiddling with the ropes when Lily got there.

"Sorry."

"Good improvising." He replied. "I probably would have ended up stunning him, which would have led to all sorts of problems."

Lily smiled at the easiness of his words, happy that with at least one Marauder, things didn`t have to be difficult.

"You don`t even have to worry about not mentioning it around the guys."

"Why would that be an issue?" She asked, feigning ignorance of what happened when James found out she`d kissed Remus (It was a bet, and a very long, clichéd story).

"He`s not going to freak," Peter said, in a manner that made Lily think he was under the impression that he was reassuring her. "He`s made it his early New Year`s resolution to not care about anything to do with you anymore. He`s totally over you now."

How very interesting, he`d made one too. It was quite clear that neither resolution could live while the other survived. Only one of them could actually achieve their goals. Lily smiled, taking it as a personal challenge. She`d always loved beating James Potter at things, and now he`d made it so easy for her to want to break her promise, because at least she`d still be crushing _some _of his dreams. "Is that so?"

Peter obviously misinterpreted the smile as a joyful, thank-god-he`s-stopped smile, so he verified it happily. "Sirius wrote me the other day. Quite a shock to everyone."

"Helllloooo…. Dangling from a ledge here…"

Lily finally tightened the line, and Peter went over to help up the two girls up. He offered each of them a hand, but Mattie chose instead to push herself up on the ledge and vault in herself, like the swift, raven-haired, ninja of the night she was. Mel graciously (and somewhat apologetically, on Mattie`s behalf) took both of Peter`s hands and allowed him to help her lift her petite self in through the window.

"How`d it go?"

Mattie dusted her hands off on her uniform. "Let`s just say that tomorrow will be a very festive Christmas for the Hufflepuffs."

"I thought you were just going to get Mike!"

"Well yeah, he got a visit from some very diabolical Christmas elves, but we decided to spread the cheer a bit… Don`t worry, there`s nothing negative past the threshold of his dorm…"

Peter chuckled. "You`re lucky most of the people who would get mad about this are home for the holidays."

"Think that`s a coincidence, Petey-boy?" Mel started untangling the lines and loading all the gear back into her backpack. Lily looked around for the invisibility cloak, but she realized that Peter mist have already pocketed it. That was odd. Did he not want Mattie and Mel to see it? If that was true, then why had he let her use it, let alone know about its existence and ownership?

"I`m gonna go get some Christmas pastries from the kitchen, you guys wanna come?" Asked Peter as he shut the window.

"Nah, we should probably eliminate the amount of time caring around a backpack, to decrease the number of people who would suspect us of being us to something. Thanks for the offer, though."

Lily nodded as he left. "See you back at the common room."

"So," Melody asked as soon as Peter had left the vicinity, "You really are becoming quite the collector of hearts, aren`t you? That's the forth Marauder, am I right?"

Whacking Melody with her own backpack, Lily tried not to blush. "Third, you doof. I was saving your butts, by the way, so you should be thanking me. Besides, what would you have done in that situation?"

"Charmed paint all over my clothes and run out pretending Peeves had done it, and pointed Donald in the opposite direction?" Mattie suggested.

"Ugh, I guess that`s what I get for asking the best problem solver in Hogwarts. Remind me again why you`re failing History of Magic?"

"It`s not interesting." Melody and Mattie chorused.

"Thanks, though." Melody patted Lily on the back as they vacated the classroom. "Good thinking on your feet."

"Oh, and by the way, did you hear what Pete was telling me while we were pulling you guys up?"

"No…"

Lily smiled mischievously. "Well, evidently Potter`s been making some resolutions of his own. You know how I said I was going to tell him how I felt? Sirius owled Peter the other day to tell him that James has sworn me off."

"He`s probably using the holiday`s to give him the chance to go cold turkey." Mel mused.

"You say that as if he`s addicted." Lily laughed, and was met with two identically smug smiles. "No he`s not! You can`t be addicted to a person."

"You should see the way he stares at you when you`re reading. What`s the word for it, again?"

"Longing? Lust? Desire? Hope?"

"Empty-minded stupidity, probably." Lily said, falling back into defensive banter even though Potter wasn`t even there, and making her realize that telling him the truth might be harder than she had originally though (and even then, it had been pretty darn hard).

Chortling, Mattie commented, "What are the odds that James just so happens to give up the chase just as you`re about to officially give in? Fate is really not on your side with this one, Lils."

"Just my luck, right?"

Mel shook her head. "If you play your cards right, you`ll be able to easily get him drop that resolution like a hot potato, you know. He`s been in love with you for years. It`ll be like winning the lottery after you stop buying tickets."

Lily looked to Mattie, who shrugged and just said, "Resolutions are meant to be broken. That`s why mine`s more of bucket list."

"Yeah, but you have the same philosophy about rules, too. I`m not like that."

"But you are a Gryffindor, aren`t you?"

"Sure, but I`m the McGonagall type, not the Marauder type."

"Oh, I think you have a little Marauder type in you. After all, you came along to help us out today, didn`t you?"

Lily shrugged and brushed a stray hair back into place. "I may have a teeny bit of a rebellious streak, but it`s like the one day overdue library book type of rebellion."

"Anyway, we`re not saying you need to be like a Marauder for this. All we`re saying is…"

"Be brave." Mel said softly. "I know you are, I`ve seen enough proof. Just stop shying away from this one thing."

"When he gets back, I`ll be direct." Lily promised. "Hopefully, I won`t kiss any more of his best friends in the meantime."

"Custard." Mattie said to the Fat Lady, laughing. "Who`s left, anyway? Haven`t you got `em all?"

"What about Frank?" Joked Mel. "Then you`ve got his whole room."

"What about me?"

Lily sighed, fighting the impulse to roll her eyes. "Nothing. Mel`s dramatizing again, that`s all."

Frank raised an eyebrow, but after looking suspiciously at them for a moment, went back to his chess game with Mary.

* * *

"Merry Christmas, you twat!" James jumped out from behind his friend, pelting him with enough snowballs to vanquish the abominable snowman.

After he`d been thoroughly pelted, Sirius rolled over and held his hands up in surrender. "Whoa, truce, truce! I`m going inside to get some of Binky`s hot chocolate."

"Good idea." Pulling his friend up out of the snow, James` stomach rumbled at the thought of the house elves` excellent hot chocolate. It brought a whole new meaning to 'magic'.

"Speaking of good ideas…" Sirius avoided his friend`s eyes, and took advantage of the absence of James` cousin. "Are you sure you want to give up on…?"

"I`m not in the mood to hear about your diluted illusions of the future, Padfoot. It`s been six years. I`m doing both of us a favor really, because she gets peace and the sound of mind of not having to worry about being constantly badgered, and I get to finally get over her. It`s a win-win."

"We both know you won`t be able to get over her like that." Sirius snapped his fingers. "If it was that easy, you`d have done it ages ago."

"People get over unrequited love all the time. I`ll just go cold turkey until school starts, and then just let it peter out. So just stop with this 'soul mates' business, alright? Obviously, you`re wrong, so please stop rubbing salt in the wound!"

Sirius was quiet for once, never having seen his friend this upset over something as simple as a girl-but then again, Lily had never been just a girl to James, she`d been _The Girl, _a goal he`d set his sights on in first year.

Maybe that was the problem, really, the fact that he`d glorified her as something more than she really was, made her into a perfect, unattainable object of his affection. The spoiled, only child in James had only seen her as an object on the shelf that he could buy, if only he begged and pleaded enough.

Over time, James had grown to realize his childishness and mistakes, but it was too late. By the time he`d amended his ways, the rift of hate between them was too strong for anything to change.

James` biggest mistake, more than the years of torturing her Slytherin friends and altogether pratishness, was when he imagined Lily as more than a girl. When he mentally made her the embodiment of perfection, he ruined his life. Not being able to have her was an almost unbearable thing because of it, and Sirius could tell that being able to except the reality of not achieving his longstanding goal was a big step for James. This, and because he was James` friend regardless of his mistakes and choices, was why Sirius let James have his silence all the way back up to the house (or rather, mansion).

But, since he was Sirius Black, the silence didn`t last forever (no matter how much teachers and peers alike wished for his muteness), and when James hesitated at the kitchen door, Sirius held the door open, and asked, "You coming, Prongs?"

* * *

The silence of Lily`s solitary reading didn`t last very long before her best friend popped into the dorm, bringing the noise of holiday cheer with her.

"What are you doing all holed up here by yourself?"

Holding up her book in response, Lily didn`t take her eyes off the page.

"Alright Miss Scrooge, would you care to come out and join the rest of the world?"

"Can`t you leave me to my Scrooging?"

Alice snatched the book out of her hand. "I`ve got a surprise for you that you`re really going to like…" she whispered in a sing-song voice.

"I have a surprise for you too. That`s what Christmas presents are."

"No, Silly Lily. I have a surprise for tonight… well, technically New Years. I was talking to Katrina earlier, and she said she had friends in Hufflepuff that invited her to a New Year`s party in Hogsmeade. She asked if we wanted to come. I just asked Mary, Mattie, Mel, and the boys downstairs, and it looks like we`re going to have a very interesting night."

"But Hogsmeade is off the grounds… let me guess, you invited Pete and Remus along just because they know all of the tunnels out?"

"Of course not! Well…partially… but also because they`re lonely, and if we left them behind, then I think we both know Remus would spend another night in the library." Alice grabbed both of Lily`s hands, pulling her up from the bed and twirling her. "Oh, and I invited Frank too."

"Frank, huh?" Lily smiled slyly, raising an eyebrow in the unasked question.

Shrugging, Alice couldn`t fully hold back the coy smile that found its way onto her lips. She started to leave, but then, as if sensing that Lily hadn`t been about to answer, Alice turned, the happiness lingering on her lips. "You coming, Lils?"

* * *

**A/N: Thank you everyone for reviewing, I`m glad you all seem to be liking the story so far! To the two guest reviewers whom I was not able to reply to privately...your wish is my command.****.**

**By the way, I`m sorry for the Peter thing -I`m guessing you`re all rolling your eyes at the screen, like "Lily`s kissing a Marauder that`s not James AGAIN?"- it had to be done (if you`re wondering when exactly Lily kissed the other two, see Cliched Challenge and Heartless Affections). **

**Oh, and if you caught the Peter pun, you deserve a gold metal.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Dance Dance Resolutions**

James knew his best friend had the memory of a goldfish sometimes (okay, most times), and he figured these fishy tendencies were mainly centered on schoolwork and James moaning about his love life (or current lack of). Little did he know that Sirius had actually been taking him, well, Siriusly when James had told him that he wanted Sirius to stop badgering (like a Hufflepuff in a sugar high in search of fresh gossip) him about _her_. That was why James Potter was exponentially confused when he opened the door to find Anna Anderson standing on his front step, face flushed from the cold. James was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that he was wearing his pajamas…from yesterday.

"Hi." She smiled shyly.

"Hi…"

After an awkward pause, James figured he should probably be saying something…but he couldn`t figure out what exactly what that was. Luckily, she was brighter than most girls James knew with an alliteration name, and took lead of the conversation.

"Sirius owled me about getting some drinks." She was pretty confident, for a Ravenclaw. Most girls would have been hesitant, said it like a question, but she stated it like the fact she must have known it to be. There was no hiding behind her hair, not even a wavering look. Anna`s blonde hair was tucked back into her hood, and her bangs framed her frozen face perfectly. He could see why Sirius must like her, although she was more confident than his usual brand of girl. James had though his friend had more of a thing for dark haired girls, but then again, Sirius Black didn`t like to slow down long enough to develop a type.

Musing over his best friend`s latest apparent interest, James opened the door wider and welcomed her in, wishing he`d thought to change out of his pajamas at some point during the day. "I`ll be right back."

* * *

"Get back here, Lily Evans. We did not invite you to a pajama party."

"They`re not pajamas! It`s just… extremely casual muggle garb."

"Really?" Alice looked pointedly at her shoes. "I`m not the world`s leading expert on muggles, far from it, but at least I know that fuzzy footwear is not the norm."

Mary, who was the only other muggleborn in the room, stifled a laugh as Lily sighed, knowing her ruse was up, and kicked off her slippers. "Fine. There`s no time to change out of the pajamas, though. You promised the guys we weren`t gonna be late this time."

"Oh, you don`t have to change. Hold still." Melody smiled wickedly, whipping out her wand in a way that sent a spike of fear through Lily.

Inching away, she begged, "No, no that`s alright, I can change really fast, hold on…"

"Don`t be such a baby. Come on, it will have less chance of something going wrong if you hold still."

Mattie grabbed Lily`s arms from behind before she could slip out the door. "It`s okay, she's had practice, she knows what she`s doing. You`ve done this loads of times, right Mel?"

"If by loads of times you mean just that once, when the subject was slightly less lifelike…but I`ve seen my mum do it loads. Hold still!"

So really, there was nothing she could do but squeeze her eyes shut and pray that whatever damage Mel was about to cause wasn`t going to be as bad as the last time one of them tried out magic they didn`t fully understand. With her roommates, it was honestly like playing magic roulette. This time, Lily hoped, nobody would end up with whiskers. Unfortunately, it wasn't a safe bet, because it was Mel`s turn to play, and she loved games.

* * *

He found Sirius in the game room, playing pool with Connor as Diana looked on, fiddling with the fireplace.

"Your date`s here."

Connor sunk two balls, then looked up. "You didn`t tell me you were going out tonight, Black. When am I gonna get my rematch?

"I`m not." Sirius smiled, and James saw a glint of evil in the eyes of his best friend. "I arranged a little outing for Jamesy."

It took a minute for the meaning of his words to sink in, and as the look of pure horror broke out on James` face, Connor chortled and slapped Sirius on the back in a sign of respect.

"Wh…but…Lily?...so…then… Anna?...I just…and she…drinks…so the hair…."

While James continued his incoherent muttering, Connor chalked his cue. "Good thinking with the rebound girl. Next time, invite over some of her hot friends for us."

"I`d change, if I was you." Sirius flicked his eyebrows up at the sight of the pajamas.

It was a tough decision whether or not to deck Sirius right there for the whole bind date thing. James had already begun to clench his fist before he remembered the resolution he`d made just days earlier.

Maybe this was Sirius` convoluted way of helping.

Maybe this wasn`t so crazy.

Maybe rebound was just what he needed to clear _her_ out of his mind.

Merlin, he had to stop referring to _her_ as _her. _

"Fine." James grunted, and started to turn to go.

"Oi, and it wouldn`t kill you if you smiled a bit." Added Diana. "It is a date, after all. Sell it for her, at least, even if it`s the worst, which I doubt."

* * *

"Doubted my skills, didn`t you?"

"It`s not the worst."

"That`s the understatement of the century." Declared Alice.

Lily shuffled under the crowd's judging stares. "Can I have a mirror please?" she asked Mel, who snapped out of her satisfied smirk long enough to toss over a compact from her purse.

Well, she wasn`t a cat, that was for sure. Satisfied, Lily snapped it shut and handed the mirror back. "Were the high-heel boots really necessary? It is pretty icy out there."

"Hazards make things interesting." Mel said simply, tucking the compact into her bag. "So, are we going?"

"Sure." Remus said, casually nodding as Peter drew his wand.

Frank eyed the wand warily, a veteran of such antics. "Should I even ask?"

Pete laughed. "You didn`t actually think we were going to show you the passage, did you?"

* * *

"Did you know I was coming?" James almost blushed at the amusement in her eyes, knowing she saw right through him. But James Potter, player and prankster extraordinaire, did not blush, so he just smiled cheekily without stumbling from his swagger.

"I can`t say I did, but I also can`t say that it`s not a pleasant surprise. How did you get here?"

"My sister side-along apparated me." Anna paused unintentionally for a moment, lost in the shining glory that was Potter Manor at Christmastime. "Do you remember…I think I was here before, several years ago for a party?"

James tried not to sigh. There was always a party, and whether or not it was a charity ball or just a pureblood function, Mrs. Potter would have been at the helm, playing the part of hostess to perfection and constantly bringing James up to people with hands to shake and comments to nod and smile at. Attendance was mandatory, although towards the end of the partying heyday, James usually just holed up in his room with the Marauders until the stuffy visitors had long since dispersed (Sirius` hate of the parties surpassed even James). Now, James` mother was gone, taking the music and bustle with her. Despite his dislike for his mother`s galas, he would shake a million hands and dance a thousand dances just to have one more Christmas with her.

Anna was still capitated by the large tapestries and shining golden candles that hung from the walls, mirth on her lips. Not noticing the subtle shift in James` features, she giggled. "You and Sirius sweet-talked the house elves into letting you slip Babbling Beverage into all the adult's drinks. I thought it was the funniest thing when Sirius` mum was trying to scolding you two, but it just came out as raging gibberish! Do you remember how old we were?"

Despite the fact that Anna knew about James` mum (she had been to the funeral, after all), this place was a capsule of childhood escapades.

"Twelve."

James held the living room (that no actual living actually took place in, as it was yet another unused and stuffy room) door open for Anna, only to discover that Connor, Sirius, and Diana were already standing around the fire. "Flooing somewhere?"

"Don't worry, we`re not here to third wheel on your date. Diana heard about this reportedly monumental party up north." Sirius scooped a handful of powder, and held out the dish to James`s cousins.

"Sounds cool, maybe we`ll stop in later."

"Where are we going first?" Anna asked, inclining her head slightly as Diana stepped into the fire, spouting the name of one of Hogsmeade`s many pubs.

Pretending to think for a moment, James figured that she probably already knew the answer. "Well, you were brought here under the pretense of going out for drinks, so how does the Leaky Caldron sound?"

"I`ve got nothing against the Caldron, but I`d like to check out Hogsmeade later on too, if that`s alright."

"That`s fine with me… Ladies first." With mock elegance, he held out the dish of power, which she gracefully accepted.

"Thanks." She said, and stepped into the flames, leaving James alone in the hollow house.

Above the mantle, the old clock ticked away the seconds. Five, six, seven, eight.

"…_As long as I live, I will never give you a chance. I will never love you."_

It was time for the games to end, the bets to stop, the tricks subside. He`d tried everything, and it had only caused him and everyone else a whole lot of pain. All his cards were on the table.

The words she`d said all those years ago still rang true, despite all his efforts.

She didn`t love him. She would never love him.

It was time to let go.

"Diagon Alley."

* * *

"Al- hey, watch it, mister. Remember we`re blind, yeah?"

The pace slowed, and Lily could hear the scuffled sounds of what she could only assume was Mary regaining her balance. Lily didn`t blame her, she`d stumbled at least twelve times in the past three minutes. The scarf they were using as a guide line stopped dipping with their falls, and she could hear Peter stifling a laugh.

Lily detected the unmistakable sigh of a bored Mattie (a frequent sound, especially in History of Magic). "Are we there yet?"

"Patience."

"I can say virtues too, Lupin. Faith! Mercy!"

"Intuition! Diligence! Sincerity!"

"Resilience!"

"Kindness, like, say, blindfolding us and letting us see the glory of this hidden passage…"

"Not a chance, Williamson."

"Come on, you can consider it a late Christmas present…or an early birthday present!"

"Your birthday is six months away."

"Hence `early`. Come on, we`ll prank a person of your choosing…."

"Tempting, but no."

"I`ve been saving this really great idea…"

Lily could sense the boy`s willpower beginning to crumble, but even she was surprised when her vision suddenly flashed back to her.

"Deal."

"Hey! No deal, we`re in a teashop!"

"Shhh! A closed teashop, thank you very much."

Lily used her sleeve (as to not leave fingerprints) to rub away the fog from the corner of a window. "The passage leads into a teashop? How did you find this place? "

"It doesn`t." Mary remarked, nodding to the back door the boys had forgotten to fully close when leading them in. "Well played."

"Touché."

Snow had begun to fall, and Lily shivered, in part from the cold, but also in anticipation of the night ahead. "So, are we going to just stand here or what?"

"Lily! I never thought you`d be the one anxious for a party we snuck out to in the dead of night? What happened to little Miss Pajamas-and-a-book we saw not too long ago?"

She blushed, which must have been very obvious in contrast her cold pale skin, and Mattie came to her rescue.

"Well whatever this is, I personally like it. Anyway, she`s right. Party, ahoy!"

As half of the group charged off into the snow in the direction of the music and laughter, Alice sensibly rolled her eyes. "Great, she`s already become a party pirate…. Who`s going to be the responsible one tonight?"

"I will." Lily offered, trying not to remember the occasion in which she had most definitely not been the responsible one…and ended up snogging Sirius Black (that was a very strange night). Anyway, it had just been heartless affections, and not something she would ever replicate. "Do you think we should try to catch up with them?"

Alice shrugged, and Lily noticed that Frank`s arm had come to rest around her best friend`s shoulders. "Your call, O Responsible One."

"Yeah… I`d better make sure they aren`t walking around in a haze of fumes or something… I`ll leave you to it, then." Winking, she sprinted ahead before Alice could formulate a response.

* * *

James could hardly form a response. He`d forgotten how good he was at causing good girls to make bad decisions, he supposed. Back in his days when he kissed more girls a week than Sirius Black, James had been able to reduce the average female to mush with just the slightest wink or hair ruffle. It seemed that he`d maintained the ability, despite the past few low months.

"So?" Anna prompted. "Are you okay with that?"

"Am I?" James turned up the charm. "You`re speaking to someone that hasn`t had a sober New Years since 1970, thanks to Black`s underage drinking problem."

She beamed, and the two made their way through the crowded streets to the fireplace they`d come through. People were milling around, waiting for the fireworks, but James knew that the party would be loads better where they were going.

"See you there!" Anna whispered giddily, the night`s few drinks already tingling her cheeks a light bubblegum. Her hand left his and was gone in a flash.

"Hogsmeade."

Then he too went from the chaos of one celebration to the next, no regrets whatsoever about whom he might meet in the heat of the action. Nope. None. Evans who?

* * *

Who was Lily Evans?

Lily sure didn`t know. Surrounded in a sea of hormones and bad decisions, with the only boy she was interested in far away in a mansion somewhere, she was pretty sure that 'party girl' wasn`t it. The plot of the latest book she`d been reading nagged at the back of her mind, and despite her best efforts, Lily was sure a mask of bored indifference clouded her expression. Thankfully, the slurring sleaze that had almost approached her noticed the indifference too, and must have figured her not worth the effort.

It was a beautiful night and an awesome party, but the adrenaline had worn off, and the hectic glow of Hogsmeade had become more warmth from the cold than a trilling event.

"Hey." Lily looked up to see her fellow redheaded roommate smiling gently. There was a fresh smudge of purple paint across her cheek and glint of a necklace Lily hadn`t noticed her wearing before, but Melody looked happier than ever, her blue eyes sparkling with a certain magic that fluttered like static in the chilly air around them. Mel`s brand of cheer was very contagious, as usual, and Lily could feel it beginning to work its charm.

"Having fun?"

"It`s been an exceptionally fantastic night. Want to dance?"

The mob of fast moving, brash dancing people called to Mel, but Lily didn`t entirely feel the same pull.

"Come on, it`ll be fun. Later I heard there`s a way to get up on the roves to get a better view of the fireworks."

Glancing up, Lily repressed a grin. "Well you see, I sort of don`t see the point in celebrating, seeing as I already made a resolution…"

"Oh, come on you." Melody grasped her roommate`s wrists tightly and pulled her into the grand disarray. Within seconds, Lily was coughing glitter from her lungs and tempted to plug her ears from the noise, but something (and not just Mel) pulled her onwards into the madness. It didn`t take long before the two redheads had reached Mattie, who had was talking to a wild-haired girl who could have been her twin (that is, if Mattie had any sisters).

"Oh good, you found her."

"I didn`t even have to confiscate any flash cards this time, she`s getting better." Mel noted, causing the girl besides Mattie to laugh. She looked exceedingly familiar, but Lily couldn`t place where this girl was from.

Mattie patted Lily on the back and explained to the girl, "Lily isn`t much for a party, but she does love a good study session."

"My mum would love you." The girl declared, "When I told her I wanted to drop out of school to play professional quiddich, she almost set the house on fire."

The eyes. Lily knew those eyes, she was absolutely positive.

"Do I know you from somewhere?"

The girl studied her. "No, I don`t think so, I almost never forget a face. My name is-"

"Diana!" The Marauders -sans James, Lily was all too quick to notice- materialized at her shoulder, butting in with their usual finesse. "You totally just missed it, Connor just spouted firewhiskey three meters into the- Lily Bear!"

"Erph. Hello, Black." Lily managed to mutter through the tackle. "It`s nice to see you too." She tried to wiggle away, but Sirius kept one arm wrapped around her waist, tethering her to the spot.

"This is _her_?" Diana asked suddenly, her eyes wide as if seeing Lily for the first time. Mel and Mattie gave her a curious look, while Sirius bumped into the boy next to him, sending him flying into Remus, who was taken off guard and unable to stop his drink from soaring through the air onto Peter.

Gasping, Lily grabbed some (somewhat sticky, but it _was_ an emergency) napkins from off the bar behind them, and began to dap at Peter`s shirt. When she realized nobody else had moved, and had been staring at her with funny expressions, she snapped, "Well you all are a compassionate bunch."

"Lily, you realize you are a witch, right?"

"It`s a muggleborn thing." Mattie explained, taking away the stain with a wave of her wand. "They`re always forgetting you can solve any problem with magic."

Mortification crept over Lily, probably blatantly showing on her cheeks in front of her friend and the two strangers. "Oh…Yeah."

"The name`s Connor." The dark haired boy next to Sirius declared, stepping in with a certain swagger to save her from the humiliation. "And I see you`ve met my sister, Diana."

Diana rolled her eyes at her brother`s overconfident tone. "If by met, you mean managed to talk to briefly before _you_ came crashing over."

"I`m Lily Evans." She said, catching a glance between the two that must mean Sirius had been telling over exaggerated stories about her again. Hopefully, he`d left out the one where she`d battled the giant squid this time (although sadly, this one was less embellished than the others). "How do you know Black and his band of merry idiots?"

"Actually, we`re related to an idiot." Diana confessed. Lily looked at the girl`s hazel eyes and messy hair, and the boy`s arrogant smile and glasses, and remembered who`s house Sirius had been staying at over the holidays, knowing instantly which idiot they were talking about.

There might just be a way for her to fulfill her resolution before the new year had even begun. "So where is Potter then?"

Connor opened his mouth, but Sirius beat him to it. "Believe me, you`re better off knowing."

"That bad, huh?" So Potter was off setting up some mad, extravagant New Year`s surprise, which was just as well. It gave Lily more time to think about what she was going to say. It took quite a bit of thought to correctly word a love declaration to your nemesis.

In the meantime though, the night was (somewhat) young, the year was old, and Lily felt the sensation that was being on her second drink of firewhiskey. James` cousin approached her, and she couldn`t help but notice that although he had blue eyes, the mischievous glint was obviously hereditary.

"Care to dance?"

He _was_ a Potter, just not the one she was necessarily looking for…although, she did love this song, and there might be a way to get some blackmail-worthy stories from the Marauder`s past out of him while they danced…

Taking his hand, she nodded. "Sure."

They joined the mob, dancing as the songs became faster and more unrecognizable from the last. It wasn`t long before the others joined them, becoming another fast-paced group amidst the blur.

"So, how much of a nut was Potter as a kid?" Lily asked, cutting right to the chase.

"Ah, so you think I`m going to betray my favorite cousin`s most embarrassing secrets to any old curious girl with big green eyes who dances with me?"

Flashing a grin, she retorted, "I`m willing to be you`d tell anyone who`d be willing to never let him forget it."

"Right you are, girly. So most pureblood parents forced their children to go to dance school… needless to say, ol' Jamesy hated the place with a fiery passion that the instructor thought she could get him to channel into the art of the tango…"

"Lovely…" Lily smirked.

* * *

"Lovey." James muttered.

Anna turned. "Hmm?"

"Isn`t it lovely out?" He said, glancing away from the girl who was laughing with his cousin, her green eyes shining brighter than the confetti in her hair.

"It`s wonderful. I love it when you can`t tell whether the white specks are snow or stars." Looking over his shoulder, she waved at a girl who was handing out jello shots. "Ooh, I`ll be right back!"

He turned back to look in the direction of his friends once she`d gone. Of course Lily`d come here, it was basically right next to the school! What an idiot he`d been, thinking he had the choice of any party in Brittan. For the past week, he`d been fretting about what he would do when he finally saw here, and now here she was, just across the bar. It wasn`t even the new year and he was about to break his resolution.

No, he couldn`t. Not again. As she danced, James reminded himself of every insult she`d shouted, every hex she`d thrown, every time she`d sworn up and down that she would never, never love him.

"Clara said these are the best in the batch." Anna slipped a jello shot into his hand, not noticing his eyes were staring off over to the other side of the room. "I saw your friend Remus over by the bar, says he has an urgent question about quiddich or something… I though he hated quiddich. Is it code for girl troubles or something, because he kinda had that look…?"

"There`s a look?" Remus did look slightly nauseous, and quiddich was definitely code for something, but most likely not Remus` girl problems.

After an eye roll that made James feel like a total boy (and like being a boy was a bad thing), she replied, "Just go see what he wants."

Remus, as it turned out, was not having girl troubles, quiddich troubles, or problems of any kind. Actually, he just had a simple message from Sirius.

"She`s here."

"I noticed."

"Padfoot`s worried you`re not ready, and thinks you`ll relapse."

"I`m fine. I`m James bloody Potter, I can handle any party."

"It`s not the party we`re worried about. 'James bloody Potter' never stood a chance before when he was anywhere near Lily."

The name was still so prominently_ her,_ but James felt less of an impulse to run across the room and pull her into the nearest broom closet, at least. Time would help, he assured himself, as something almost toppled the shot out of his hand.

"Oops!" a voice purred, and James turned to see a brown-eyed redhead looking up at him with a peculiar smile playing on her lips.

Ginger. Why`d she have to be ginger?

"Hello, I don`t believe we`ve met before." James heard the word before he realized they were his. "The name`s James Potter."

"_The_ James Potter?" She smirked, her arm touching his, and whispered in his ear, "_The Marauder_?"

Deep down, James knew redheads were no good for him. They had their very own brad of charm, one he never could resist. He`d never met a ginger who didn`t trail trouble and broken hearts. And this one was a player if he`d ever saw one. But then again, he was a player too, after all. If there was one thing James had learned, it was that you can ignore the game for a while, but it`s impossible to walk away.

Which was why, Anna forgotten, James raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Why, have you been warned about me?"

"It`s common knowledge that you`re elusive, but not exclusive."

"So you only know what the rumors say."

"Oh, I`ve heard all about you. How you throw elite parties in the middle of a school without a teacher ever knowing, collect the hearts of all the girls in school, was the youngest Gryffindor Quiddich Captain, saved a student from certain death, battled a giant squid, and have a thing for gingers… or shall I say, a certain ginger. _Very_ Gatsby." Before he could ask, she explained, "It`s a muggle thing."

"Somebody`s been asking around."

"Oh, it`s common knowledge. Especially the ginger one…" She glanced over at Anna, who was in mid-twirl. "Changing it up, I see."

"I don`t have a type. I`ve been with blondes, brunettes, tall girls, tiny girls, quiddich queens to divination divas."

A hand found its way onto his chest, and the hot breath on his neck tickled slightly. "Sure, but it`s so blatantly clear what you prefer."

The room was beginning to empty, as shouts of the time rang off in the air. Fireworks would be starting soon; Sirius was probably waiting for him up on some rooftop. Anna was long gone, taken by the swarm of people who were evacuating to see the spectacle.

A lock of the girl`s auburn hair brushed his arm, and James knew exactly what he wanted to do to ring in the new year.

* * *

Ringing in the new year had never seemed so horribly nostalgic. That wasn`t to say Lily wasn`t enjoying it, though.

Lights had begun to dim and meld into an eerie glow off the snow; alit by the dark luminescent, the patchwork group made their way down yet another dark alley. Tromping ahead in the snow, Mattie and Remus were inspecting the trash cans and drainpipes on the sides of the shops, determining what building they were going to scale.

"Boo." Lily jumped, and recognizing James` cousin, popped him on the arm. "Ouch. Afraid of the dark, Evans?"

"Not at all, just the things the dark conceals."

For a moment, Lily couldn`t see the resemblance as Connor asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I`m not exactly the safest person in the world right now, you know. There is a war going on, and I`m exactly who the bad guys would like to eliminate."

"Believe me, they wouldn`t want to kill you if they got to know you."

"_You _don`t know me."

"That`s not true. I may have met you tonight, but Jamesy has been bringing home stories of you for years. Every holiday, he drives me mad with stories about how kind, smart, and crazy beautiful this Evans girl is. I thought he was mad, I still do, but at least now I can see why."

Lily blushed, thankful for the poor lighting. "Thank you…?"

"Mats!" Mel cried, running around a corner. "I found the perfect spot!"

Everyone followed the smallest of the cluster as she ran onto the back porch of the post office and proudly stood by the railing. "Ta-da!"

It was the perfect boost apart for the layer of ice that covered the wood. This was solved swiftly though, as the girls wearing heels took off their shoes and hacked away. Sirius pulled a pocketknife from his boot and started to chip at it too, and between them they made short work of the hazard. As soon as this had been accomplished, Mel jumped up on the railing and raised herself into a standing position. Perched on the edge with her arms out for balance, she looked like any amount of wind could easily toss her over.

"Maybe this isn`t the best idea…" Frank warned as Mary took out her wand, ready to whip up a healing spell when the inevitable fall came.

Mattie jumped up on the other railing, and pulled Remus up after her. After a moment`s pause, the tall girl vaulted herself up onto the roof of the building, swiftly pulling herself up into a sitting position on the edge of the roof. She held her hands out for Remus, who was beginning to sway and loose balance, and hiked him up next to her before going over to help Mel.

After the last member of their ramshackle scattering of unlikely friends had been raised up, everyone brushed themselves off a spot on the roof, lining the ledge in front of the building. Sitting between Mary and Mel, Lily couldn`t help but feel electrified. The unity of the tightly knit group was not altered by the addition of Connor, Diana, and Morgan Stimson (Sirius invited her up), and the sense of daring exhilaration channeled through all of them. Swinging her boots off the edge with the others, Lily`s only regret was that James wasn`t up there to share this moment with them. This would be the perfect opportunity to tell him.

"Five minutes," Remus announced from the other side of Mary. Mattie, Peter, Mel, and Diana had already started to make a snowball arsenal to chuck off the roof as the bells tolled (or if anyone happened to pass by), and Connor was writing his name in the snow below with his wand. "Anyone got any resolutions?"

Mary spoke first. "I`m going to read my way through at least one alphabetical section of the library."

"I`m gonna get accepted into the Auror Academy by November, so I can get right into the big bad world of Death Eater hunting come graduation." Alice said firmly.

Frank smiled. "Me too. It`s time to put an end to this war."

Sirius lifted his glass. "I`ll drink to that." He was the only one to toast with an actual drink, though, seeing as everyone else had left their drinks bellow, not thinking to summon them up after the climb. "I`m finding at least seven new passages."

"I`ll write my older brother and apologize."

"One hundred goals." Diana stated. "Ravenclaw will be the best team at Hogwarts when I`m through."

"I`m going to collect all of the chocolate frog cards."

"I`m asking out Tyra Laurens."

"Good on you, Pete."

"Courage. I`m not going to hold back or doubt myself anymore. I don`t want to leave anything unsaid or undone, because when I walk out of Hogwarts the very last time, I`m not going to have any more regrets." Mattie declared, and the others nodded in resolute agreement. "Oh, and I`m totally going to plan the best Senior Prank ever."

Lily wasn`t about to announce her pre-determined resolution in front of James` three best friends, two of his cousins, and a stranger. Instead, she kept quiet, pretending to wait for Mel or Remus to speak. The only noise, though, was far-off shouts and inhuman noises radiating from the center of Hogsmeade, where the huge light and party was.

Finally, Remus broke the hush. "Two minutes."

"Remy, you still haven`t told us your resolution yet!"

"I resolve to get O`s on all my NEWTS, and be the best version of me I can be."

Peter rolled his eyes. "You probably just stole Lily`s."

Mattie, knowing full well what Lily`s resolution was and how much she didn`t want to share at this moment, prompted her best friend by poking her in the shoulder. "Mel?"

"How much time is left?"

"A minute and a half, just about."

Watching Melody quietly roll her fingers over a scar on her knee, Lily began to wonder whether something was haunting her friend. But the look in Melody`s eyes was contemplative, not gloomy, and the old scar was nothing more than a mark left by a jellyfish that had drifted too close to shore. So when Mel let go of the gutter and pushed off the roof, Lily was shocked.

"I`ll be right back." Leaving only a Mel-shaped dent in the snow, the girl took off down the street and into the labyrinth of buildings. If Lily hadn`t turned back right before Melody turned the corner, she might have never caught the gratified smile that flickered across Mattie`s face for just a moment.

Connor shook his head. "Merlin, I hope that girl finds whatever it is she just took off for. That`s mad."

"I bet she will." Mattie said, handing a snowball down the line to Lily, who in turn passed it to Mary.

Once everyone was properly armed, they grew quiet again, just listening to the last noises of 1976. The Shrieking Shack, way up on its hill, was even mute for the occasion, as if in memorial of the year about to pass.

The town of Hogsmeade itself began to cheer as a roar came from the very roots of the world, and began to cheer, "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five…"

All around Lily, the world began to slow to a halt, until the frosty air itself was still. Yet, the lips of the world still moved, shouting out the remaining digits.

"…Four, three, two…"

Lily was aware of the surge of kissing all around her: Alice and Frank, Remus and Mary to her right; Mattie and Connor, Sirius and Morgan to her left. Diana had jumped up, waving her wand wildly as she shouted "ONE!"

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Snow and confetti showed down around Lily, and in that moment, surrounded by her friends, she was completely alone. In those sparse moments between the year beginning and the calming of the chaos, Lily made another resolution. No matter the odds, Lily was going to ring in 1978 kissing the boy she just couldn`t get out of her mind.

Now she just had to tell James.

* * *

James felt bad about not telling Anna, but honestly she should have known better. After all, he`d never really had to warn any of the other girls he`d gone places with. He was an infamous player, and that was that.

They stopped for a breath (James` first that year), and while he inspected the square around them, he tried to spot any differences from the last year. Confetti, he deduced, was in more abundance.

"Bored already?" slurred the foxy redhead, snaking her arms back around his neck.

Brushing the shine of budding perspiration of her cheek, James flicked his eyebrows and said, "Not a chance."

But before James could quite shut his eyes, he saw a blur of fire truck red jump through his peripheral vision. At the last moment, he pulled his head away, checking wildly over his shoulder for where the figure had gone. Guilt bubbled up in his stomach, even though the only person he could be offending was his blonde date, and his second instinct was to kiss the girl anyway, to make Lily jealous. But no, that wouldn`t work…After all, the entire point of this was that Lily felt nothing for him.

"What`s wrong?"

Still fearful that Lily had seen him kissing -Oh Merlin, he didn`t even know her name- James stood on his toes to get a better view of the crowd. As his eyes flickered around in search of his girl (though the falling confetti was making this quite hard), James realized that kissing strangers had never made him feel guilty before…maybe he was losing his touch. Or maybe, he should have stuck with Anna.

There- he finally spotted the girl he`d seen, but much to his relief, it was Mel, not Lily. Upon closer inspection, he was able to clarify that the orangey slight curls that he loved were nowhere to be seen. It was probably best though, to sober up and go home.

Wow. James Potter being responsible; good thing Sirius couldn`t see him now. Maybe the new year really had pulled a number on him.

"I have to go." He explained, and his foxy redhead only shrugged. Brushing past her, he scanned the crowd to his cousins or Black, but even Mel had been whisked out of sight. Anna, he figured, he should make an effort to locate, seeing as he was supposed to be her date, after all. Knowing she would probably go back to where they came, he retraced his path to the fireplace they`d flooed in to.

Sure enough, there she was, already in line to go. "I didn`t think I`d see you again."

"Of course I`d come back for you." He kissed her apologetically, and she smiled.

"Much better than my New Year`s kiss. Tall as the astronomy tower, and the arse wouldn`t even stoop down a tad so I didn`t have to jump to meet him. Talk about a pain in the neck. I hope you at least had better luck."

"Nah," he lied. "Do you want to floo back to mine, or are you expected home?"

"I should probably get back; my mum will start to worry. Thanks, though."

James kissed her again in goodbye, and was started to be push away as she moved up in the line. "See you around, then."

Before he could get himself another drink (the brief though of sobriety long forgotten), a dark shadow announced the arrival of his best friend.

"How`d it go?"

"Connor`s pissed, and we had to mend a few of his bones, due to his ability to land on his feet. Diana`s with him, she`s pretty tired so she offered to bring him home for us. Oh, and Wormy`s announced he`s going to finally ask out that Laurens bird. You?"

"Oh, you know me. Snogged, swigged, staggered; the usual. What`s the face?"

"What face?"

"You looked like you were going to tell me something, but thought better of it."

"I haven`t the faintest what you`re talking about. What do you think of Anna?"

"She`s a pretty nice girl. I`m not a nice guy. It might work out."

"Not like you don`t have a line up waiting for _the_ James Potter, eligible bachelor."

"Merlin, you think it will be that bad?"

"Once the word gets out? Tenfold."

Sirius threw a consoling arm around his mate, and James tried not to think about the one girl he would get out of his head if it killed him, the one he`d dreamt of sharing a New Year`s kiss –or any kiss, for that matter- with since first year.

Only now, he would never again tell her that.

So James picked up a firewhiskey, and took a long swig. Never.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry it took me AGES to finish this one, but as you can see, it`s quite long. I`ve been very busy lately, but hopefully things will calm down soon. It`s probably not going to take forever for chapter five... I have a bunch of half-written chapters, the trick is making them comprehensive and full (feel free to tell me if I made any strange errors that were not caught in revision, I tend to make notes for myself and forget to delete them). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this!**


	5. Chapter 5

**The Return Of The King**

Staring down platform 9 ¾, James got the bubbling feeling in his stomach that made him wonder whether the last two weeks had been in vain. His red haired menace was still far away, but already he felt his façade beginning to crack.

"Ready?" asked Sirius.

James took a deep breath. "Yeah, just about."

* * *

Just about the best thing about the new year, for Lily at least, was the start of spring term. The start of the spring term was always an enjoyable time for her, and this year was no exception. Everyone always came back with high spirits from the holiday, and the annual panic of forgotten assignments always provided some good entertainment for the students who`d been diligently spending time working inside while their friends were running through the snow. Lily`s payoff began the Sunday before classes started again, when she was awoken to the crazed mutterings of her best friend tearing vainly through her trunk in search of Charms notes.

"Ah, nothing brings more joy to my blackened heart then watching all my hard work pay off. Who ditched me at the library to go ice skating, again?" Lily smirked and sat up, feeling refreshed despite just having been ripped from slumber.

"When is the essay due again?"

Mel, who was walking out of the bathroom with a towel on her head, replied, "Tomorrow afternoon. Don`t worry, you have plenty of time still, Mats and I were planning on starting ours tonight, if you want to join us."

"I swear, you two are the little devils who sit on my shoulder, whispering evil notions." Never the less, Alice halted her search, and rested a moment with her eyes closed and her back against her bed. "Frank is going to kill me; I promised I`d meet him in the kitchens for some start of term cake tonight."

"So it is a date." Mary inquired, looking up from her book. "Knew it."

Alice`s eyes flew open, her cheeks rapidly filling with red. "No…!"

"Set time and event, scheduled several days in advance; exchanged details leading up to; the eating of food; glaringly obvious fact of you two alone, left to your own –romantic- devices…do you want me to go on?" Mattie pulled her sweater on; seemingly obvious to the glower Alice was sending her that was sharp enough to cut through a dragon's skin. "I though so."

"Why are you all getting ready so early?" Lily asked, shocked that two of her laziest roommates were already dressed.

"Hogsmeade run. Last chance to load up our stock of sweets before they start regulating trips again." Melody replied, pulling on her cloak and scarf. "Want to come? We might even run into a certain someone who is due to arrive back today…"

"Give me five minutes."

* * *

"Five minutes." James declared, forcing his eyes away from the muggle watch Diana had given him for Christmas in hopes it would turn him more responsible (which it hadn`t).

The blonde in his lap looked up at him with a soft sort of bemused caring. "I don`t see why you`re so worked up. Honestly, the schoolwork isn`t that bad. Did you finish the Charms essay?"

"I think so… Padfoot, I did give Moony my essay before we left, didn`t I?"

"James Potter! You did not pawn off your work to a friend to write while you gallivanted around the countryside, did you?"

He grinned sheepishly. "It`s a Christmas gift."

Sighing, she looked across the compartment to Sirius. "And I suppose you received the same gift?"

"Nah, he did my Potions. Variety is the spice of life, after all."

* * *

"Hmm, I think I`ll try some Dragon Tears too…as they say, variety is the spice of life." Mattie mused, chucking more assortments of candy into her bag.

"How many more caldron cakes are we getting?" Lily asked, wary of the fact that they`d have to carry back the spoils, and her companions were not currently conscious of the weight of their packages.

Running her hands along the smooth, strawberry counters, Mel grinned. "I ordered a crate of them from the back."

"No."

"Yes."

Lily sighed.

"You`ll be thanking me, come March."

"Until then, I`ll be complaining about how my arms fell off into the snow." She ducked around one of the aisles, and almost collided with a younger Gryffindor girl. "Sorry!"

The girl nodded at Lily, but went back to her conversation. "Anyway, it was sooo cute."

"And you sat across from them on the train?"

Lily almost shook her head at the idle gossip. Oh, to be a third year again (although admittedly, her friends were less Fountain/gossip inclined and more illegal-magical-creature-smuggling sort of crazy).

"The compartment opposite."

"I hear they hooked up over break."

Whoopdedoo.

* * *

"Whoooo hooo!" Sirius shouted into the wind, as behind him, James` girlfriend clung to him for dear life.

"What….did…you….do….to…the…invisible…horse?"

Anna immediately shouted the politically correct term, not that anyone cared. "Thestral!"

"I made it awesome! Do you have a problem with that, Potter?"

James suddenly regretted ever showing his friends the fast-forward spell he`d learned last year. HE should have known something like this would happen, knowing his friend`s track record.

* * *

"I wouldn`t be surprised, knowing his track record."

The clump of girls moved to the other side of the store, but their voices carried. Lily listened, but only for the sake of knowing who she was going to find in a broom closet on one of her upcoming prefect patrols.

"Totally girl-next-door syndrome."

"He really did a number on her."

Gummy owls were fifty percent off!

"I wish I was a gorgeous Ravenclaw. They get all the luck, beauty and brains."

"Not to mention smoking hot quiddich captains. Merlin, Potter can catch my snitch anytime."

The gummy owls hit the floor.

"He`s a chaser, you know."

"No, he_ was_ a chaser. Apparently they didn`t have a good seeker after Cort graduated, so he had to switch positions. Robins took his place, remember?"

Where were Mattie and Mel? Lily didn`t want to hear anymore. She wasn't aware of her fast pace until she came out of the aisle and practically bowled Mattie over (which, considering how much they were both caring, would not have been good).

Catching her friend`s distraught expression, Mattie asked worriedly, "Lily…? What happened?"

"I`m going to go back up to the school. Do you want me to take anything?"

"Sure, just give me a minute to get Mel, we`ll come with you." Dropping her bag on the checkout counter, Mattie hesitantly asked, "Do you still want to go to the train station before we head back?"

Apparently, Mattie was still blissfully ignorant of the arrival of James Potter. "No, that`s alright."

"Okay, I`ll be right back, I`m just going to fetch Mel so we can go…here." Mattie gently push her purse into Lily`s hands before disappearing, leaving Lily alone with her thoughts.

So he had found a girl. A brainy, Ravenclaw blonde. Better than Lily in almost every aspect, so it would appear. And they were already shagging. Perfect.

Stupid Potter. Two weeks! He couldn`t handle two weeks away from school without constant female attention.

Prick.

He always did ruin everything.

Now, naturally, Lily was going to have to take the moral high road and sit back and watch the new couple snog in the hallways. Gah, he better not take up a broom cupboard while she was patrolling.

It sucked to be the better person, but there was no way Lily was going to hurt this poor new girl with a declaration of love to a boy already in a relationship.

This is what she got for falling in love. Stupid. Hadn`t she known it was too perfect to be true? Nothing good ever came easy. But it wasn`t like Lily could even fight for this. Moral high ground aside, she wasn`t about to become one of the very girls she`d always despised.

The semester hadn`t even started and Lily`s resolution was already broken.

It just wasn`t fair.

"Is that all, dearie?"

"Hmm?" Lily snapped out of her spiral of self-pity, registering the gentle smiling woman on the other side of the counter. "Oh, yes thank you. Wait, my friend ordered a box of caldron cakes from the back…"

"Oh yes, this is on the Melody Williamson account? Would you like it packaged as usual?"

"Um…sure?"

"Just a moment." The woman ducked into the back of the shop, and Lily was growing more concerned with the 'packaging' situation by the moment when Mattie returned, Mel in tow.

"Did you pay yet?"

"Not yet, she said she was going to get Mel`s crate, packaged 'as usual'."

Melody nodded. "Perfect." The woman came out from the back of the shop, carrying a small bag. Or at least, what appeared to be a small bag, because the clerk woman swept all of the candy off the checkout counter and into the bag, and nothing was spilling out the top. Lily almost smacked her face in realization of her muggle default; the bag was obviously smaller on the outside. Naturally, magic bags must be common in the wizarding world.

Mattie, taking back her purse, handed over the money and the trio left the store, thoroughly stocked for the rest of the winter. "Man, I wish we`d been able to get a peek at those tunnels when we were here for New Year's."

"Guys…"

"Hmm?" Melody responded, and Mattie gave her a wary glance.

"I have to tell you something…"

* * *

"I have to tell you something."

"Nice to see you too, Wormtail." James chuckled while his friend shuffled foot to foot. "Is that really the first thing you`ve got to say after I`ve been away for two weeks?"

Sirius grabbed Peter in a headlock, which Peter wrestled his way out of, grinning. Remus rolled his eyes from his bed, where he was laying, textbook set out in front of him, in the usual Sunday morning position.

Frank had gone out to help calm down Alice and possibly help her with some essay (which the four of them knew the pair would probably spend ten minutes on, then leave to go get hot chocolate), so they had the dorm to themselves. The Marauders were holding court once again, order had been restored to Hogwarts (or, rather, _dis_order).

"So, first order of business how was your holiday?" Remus asked.

"Brilliant, but I think you should be asking Prongs."

James sighed. "It was good. I`m two weeks clean, and my resolution seems to have worked."

"I`ll say. That blonde bird is well fit, Prongs. Where`d you find her?"

Pretending to be hurt, Sirius butted in, "I found her, thank you very much."

"She`s lived next door to me for years, you didn`t 'find' her."

"Anyway, I expect you all just sobbed quietly into your pillows while we were gone."

Remus scoffed and handed the overly dramatic boys their homework. "Very funny, Merry Christmas."

"Oh, here Prongs, you forgot this." Peter tossed over the invisibility cloak. "I hope you don`t mind, I borrowed it a bit while you were gone."

Shoving the cloak into his trunk, James wondered whether Peter had washed it or something, because it smelled faintly of strawberries. "Keeping up the Marauding while we were out? Excellent."

"Actually, I was helping out with a Christmas present for Mary."

"Now that`s a good cause, Mattie told me about it at New Year's."

"Wait, what part did you have to use the cloak for?" James asked abruptly, playing back the story in his head. "I though you and Lily were just supposed to guard the classroom."

Peter`s shuffling intensified. "Well, I had to use it at one point to cover up the cables… someone came in, and we were almost busted."

"It`s a good thing they didn`t notice the open window." Sirius noted, but James was not as calm.

"Was Lily there when you used it?"

"Er…um…yes?"

Collapsing onto his bed, James held his head in his hands. "So she knows."

"Look, there was nothing else I could have done! I had to do it, or everything would have been ruined. Anyway, it`s better than if she knew about the map. At least she doesn't know you could know where she is at all times, like the ultimate stalker…. although she does think you watch her while she sleeps."

"Fantastic."

Considering the fact that he`d owned the cloak the entire time he`d been obsessed with Lily, he`d only ever watched her sleep once. It had been over a month ago now, the night he`d accidentally stumbled upon her sobbing her eyes out in the owlery. She`d fallen asleep on his shoulder after he`d consoled her. Stuck in this uncharacteristic dream world he knew wouldn`t last, he carried her back to the common room so the two of them wouldn`t be caught out of bed. After dropping her by the fire, he stood guard for a while –under the invisibility cloak naturally, because she would freak if she had woken up- to make sure that nobody woke her out of the dwindling moments of sleep that kept her from remembering why she`d cried. It was after that night that James realized if he ever wanted a relationship with Lily; it would have to be platonic.

"Um, Prongs…there`s one other thing I should probably mention…"

"Let me guess, you accidentally dropped the map into the fire."

"No! When we were almost caught while guarding the window, in order to distract a prefect from noticing the open window and asking questions, Lily kinda…snogged me. A little bit. Only because of Peeves!"

After grasping the meaning behind the very confusing story, James closed his eyes and lay back on the bed. "So let me get this straight. You all-" He gestured around the room at his fellow Marauders, "have known that I fancy Lily Evans since first year. And yet now every single one of you has kissed her."

"I tried to stop her!"

"It was only to save Christmas!"

Sirius smirked. "You technically paid me to do it."

"Who`s next, Frank?" cried James in anguish.

"I thought you were over her now." Remus commented, subtly reminding him of the Ravenclaw whom he`d walked into the castle with.

"I am!"

"P- p- p- poker face there, Potter." Sirius commented. "You wouldn`t want to lose your cool."

"This is me being calm."

* * *

"This is me being calm!"

"Clearly not." Mutter Mattie, and Mary hit her with a book.

"Poor Lil."

"That sucks." Alice said, patting her best friend on the back and trying not to think about the date she`d abandoned in order to deal with the crisis. "When do we kill her?"

"We can`t kill her, guys."

Melody smiled sweetly, and spoke as if to a child. "Of course we can."

"No, I mean were not going to. This girl didn't nothing wrong, besides falling in love with the wrong guy, which to be honest, if that`s a crime, then I`m guilty too." The roommates took in these words with a frown.

"So what _are_ we going to do?" speculated Mary, as the others tried to quell their disappointment.

"_We_ are going to be _nice_," She said, looking pointedly at three girls in particular, "and I am going to be okay."

Nobody asked for assurance on that, because every one of them knew the later was faker than Filch`s magic, Sirius` family, Petunia`s Hogwarts letter, and one of the legs of their Care Of Magic Creatures teacher.

* * *

**A/N: So I`m going to try and set up a tentative schedule of posting a new chapter every ****Saturday... hopefully I won`t become obscenely busy the next few weeks, but otherwise I think it will work. Thanks again to everyone who commented last time, guest or otherwise. See you all next week!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A House Divided**

"Oh Merlin, remember that one time you completely demolished our back garden? Hoof prints all over the petunias, and all he had to say to my mother was that he`d been practicing summoning charms on animals."

"I did apologize."

"Only after I told you she`d taken away my broom for a month!"

"What can I say; I knew no flying was the worst punishment of them all."

"Really, because I`m pretty sure did you just want a keeper to torture." The group descended into laughter. "You`re the reason I stopped flying, you know. Too competitive."

"I`m sorry." James apologized, kissing his girlfriend on the cheek. "But that`s why you love me, right?"

"Mmm." She said, kissing him back.

Disgusting.

Stupid Potter with his perfect girlfriend and her stupid cute little curls that stupid Potter keeps running his stupid hands through.

"Good morning, Sunshine! Missed me?"

Lily had been called a lot of things in the past few days, but 'Sunshine' was not one of them.

"It`s been less than a week, Black. I saw you on New Year`s, remember?"

This did not discourage the bear hug that ensued. "Aww, love you too Lily-flower."

"Did you have a nice holiday?" She asked, giving in to the conversation.

"Obviously. You?"

Her response came a moment too late, and her eyes lingered a bit too long on the beaming blonde who`s hand was in James`. "Yep."

"Obviously." He said again, this time his tone different.

He knew. She could see it in those grey heart-catching eyes of his.

"Huh." He said finally.

"What?"

Sirius shook his head, knowingly. "Oh, nothing."

Guiltily, she looked away to her cold toast as he read the rest of the story off her expression.

"Tell me, Evans. Would you turn him down again if he was still single?"

Maybe he was a relationship seer, as he had drunkenly professed to her all those months ago, because she didn't have to say the things she was feeling or what had happened over the holiday for him to ask just the right questions.

"I don`t know." She croaked. "I honestly don`t know."

Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"It`s just, I`ve said no for so long, I don`t even know if he means it anymore…and yeah, there is a little bit of pride in there preventing me, but…" Lily shook her head. "I really do fancy him…. so much it hurts."

Wiping her eyes, Lily sighed. "I cannot believe I told you of all people. Swear you won`t say anything to him, alright?"

"Don`t worry, I`m leaving that one up to you." Sirius said, standing up to go join his friends at the other end of the table. "But Lily?"

"Hmm?"

"I still expect to be godfather."

Lily smiled at the retreating figure of the boy she`d once kissed just to spite his best friend, and thanked Merlin that he was on her side.

"Oh, and try the jam, I dare you."

* * *

"Quite a jam we`ve gotten ourselves into this time, isn`t it Professor?"

McGonagall did not chuckle. Sirius swallowed his smile.

"First day back, and you`re already stirring up trouble. Haven`t any of you ever hear of New Year`s resolutions?"

"On the contrary, Professor, we have several."

"I don`t think I should ask, plausible deniability and all." She sighed. "Care to explain your perspective before I doll out the punishments?"

"Well, there might hypothetically have been some slippage of dungbombs into the jam bowls, and the hypothetical dungbombs may have hypothetically have been set off by one of us. Theoretically, of course."

"Naturally. Hand over the wands, boys."

McGonagall tested each wand for the spell that had been produced last, before finally turning to James Potter, a mahogany wand in her grasp.

"This is yours, Mr. Potter, I believe?"

"It is."

Again, the teacher sighed the tired groan of someone who had a rocky road to retirement. "The usual fifty points from Gryffindor, and you`ll be in the Muggle Studies classroom for detention on Saturday, during the match."

"Happy New Year to you too, Professor!" The boys tipped imaginary hats and quickly scampered out, before she could check their pockets for the evidence they obviously contained.

* * *

Each broom closet was like the opposite of a Christmas present; Lily hated opening them, and she almost always knew what they contained.

She was sooo not in the mood for this today.

"Out, out." She said in a bored monotone to the two sheepish and blessedly clothed Hufflepuffs who had been in her most recent 'present'. "This is your only warning, guys. Come on, please don`t make me have to see that again."

"Such a bundle of sunshine." Noted her partner for the night, Slytherin prefect Colleen Blishwick.

"I`ve been getting that a lot today… You`re opening the next one."

Colleen and Lily weren`t exactly friends, but considering that Colleen was a pureblood to Lily`s muggleborn in the house best known for prejudice, they got along civilly. Just, you know…not perfect.

"Trouble in your mucky little slums?"

"That`s rich, considering you`re the one who lives under the lake."

"Fine, if Little Miss Perfect Prefect wants to throw a temper tantrum, go ahead."

"Sorry." Lily said, knowing that Colleen was doing her version of nice. "It`s just…"

"Boy troubles?"

"Have you heard?" Lily was going to kill Sirius Black. "No running in the halls!"

"Psh, I don`t care enough to listen to Gryffindor gossip. But with that look on your face is a classic symptom of boy troubles."

Sighing, Lily asked, "I know I`m going to regret asking this, but how far would you go to pursue someone you really love?"

"How far is there?"

"Even if it meant possibly hurting the feelings of an innocent bystander?"

"Lily, you probably don`t want to hear my answer to that and, let`s face it, you are not really asking that anyway. So here`s what you need to know: go as far as you are willing to go without breaking any preset moral standards, but if that isn`t far enough, then find help from someone who knows the situation well or has the means by which to get you out of this mess."

While Lily was milling this over, her partner went on ahead.

Flinging open the door of the next closet, Colleen shouted, "Get out of there, you dirty, dirty children!"

Two wide-eyed second years fled the scene. "Fifty points from Slytherin, Neal. You totally should have known better."

* * *

"I though you guys knew better than to mess with McGonagall your first day back! She`s not going to put up with your garbage this early in the term." Frank warned as his roommates barged back into the dorm, fresh from McGonagall`s office. As the boys plopped down on their respective sides of the room, James saw Alice was perched innocently against the post at the end of Frank`s bed, reading a Herbology book as if the room was her own. Also, he noted the fact that the book was upside-down.

"What are you calling 'garbage', Longbottom? That was a grade A explosion, back there!"

Alice snorted from behind the book, and Sirius grew defensive. "Do you think you could do better?"

"Of course I could. I bet Mel, Mats, and I could out do that in our sleep."

"Sure, maybe with Mattie and Mel, but if you think you could out prank the Marauders alone, you really are dreaming."

"I don`t know Black, I think she could take you. After all, you operate with a group too..."

Remus, beginning to sense another disastrous bet on the horizon, quickly maneuvered away from the dangerous subject. "Has anyone seen Lily?"

James kept his breathing even, pulse steady, and made himself think of Anna, across the school in her Divination class.

"I think she`s doing some prefect hall monitor thing." Alice supplied.

"What`s been going on with her recently? I haven`t got a chance to really talk to her since New Year`s, and she`s been walking around looking like a tree that's lost all its leaves."

Alice`s eyes flicked briefly to James, so quick that if he`d been even blinked he would have missed it entirely, then back to rest at Remus. "Lily`s sister got a new boyfriend who`s the approximate girth of a fully-grown elephant, and apparently Petunia didn`t want to have to explain exactly why the pictures in Lily`s room moved quite yet, so she may have been most of the reason behind why Lily stayed here over the holidays."

"Oh, that `s horrible." Peter said, and James wondered if Alice was deliberately looking away from Sirius.

Alice shrugged. "Well, it meant she was able to spend more time studying and helping out with Mary`s Christmas present. Did you two fill them in already?"

"Oh, don`t worry, we got a very through report." James grumbled despite his efforts, and Alice laughed. Only Frank seemed confused by the connotation of the event, and he didn`t seem to care being on the outside after Alice whispered something into his ear and shut her (clearly unread) book.

"I think that`s enough studying. See you all at dinner?" Frank said, not waiting for an answer.

"Mmhmm." As soon as the door clicked behind them, James turned to Peter and asked, "So how long has that been going on?"

"New Years, I think. Fairly new, you haven`t missed much obviously, since they aren`t yet official."

"You kidding? The sneaky, pre-couple thing is always the best part." Sirius declared. "Everyone knows that."

"Really?" Remus asked, grinning impishly. "And who`s your subject of the moment?"

"Are you familiar with the Hufflepuff seeker, Bailey Tipton?"

"No, but I`m assuming you are."

"Let`s just say I know who I`m rooting for in the match this weekend. Too bad you`re gonna miss it, Prongs."

"I`m not too broken up over it."

* * *

Lily wished she was a better liar. "I`m not too broken up over it, really. So how are things going with Frank?"

Unable to suppress her grin, Alice ducked behind a shelf. "I might have been up in his room earlier…"

"You tart!" Lily joked, swatting her friend with a book.

"As if. No, we barely talked before the fantastic four crashed back in. I know it`s their room and all, but it was a total invasion of privacy."

"So?"

"So what?"

"If I know you, which I definitely do, you found a way to slip off somewhere with Frank."

Alice turned pink. "That predictable, huh?"

"Where`d you guys go?"

"Oh, I suggested we take a walk around the castle, and it started snowing…"

"You kissed him, didn`t you?"

Alice fixed her hair in the frosted library windows, leaving Lily to draw her own conclusions.

"Oh, Ally! That`s so wonderful. When`s the wedding?" This time, it was Lily who was swatted. "But really, it is. I mean, a New Year`s kiss is one thing, this is more real, and totally Hollywood. Are you guys something now?"

Nodding shyly, Alice confirmed. "I think so."

"Well, it`s about time."

* * *

"About time!" Anna mumbled victoriously, as her pawn jumped into checkmate position.

James threw his hands up. "How do you do that within three minutes?"

"I`m not the best. My friend Fabian once beat me within seven moves during third year."

"You have to teach me how to do that; I could totally obliterate Moony then!"

Anna laughed. "Why do you call each other such funny names? Moony, Wormy, it`s like you went out into the forest and started looking at random things and naming each other after them."

"You`re not that far off, actually." James commented, but did not elaborate. The quiet of a Tuesday afternoon settled upon the library, and James almost jumped at the loud crash of books behind him. "Lily?"

"Potter. Strange seeing you here. I always assumed that, like a vampire, you could not step upon sacred ground, and the books had been keeping you away all these years." Evans picked up her books and walked over, casually leaning against the table.

Anna giggled. "Oh, I invited him in. Sorry if he`s tarnishing the purity vibe. I`m Anna by the way, I don`t think we`ve ever been properly introduced."

Evans stuck out a hand, which James` girlfriend shook, weirding him out as his two worlds collided. "I`m Lily Evans."

"Oh, I know."

"Really?" Lily inclined her head, staring down James. "What, have they been talking about me?"

"No, but they don`t have to. You`re the one who swam with the giant squid last Fall."

"Indeed I am." Lily said proudly, and her eyes sparkled deviously, sending chills through the pit of James` stomach. "Actually, I had to drag your boyfriend`s lazy arse out of the jaws of said giant squid. He was a bit of a prat about it, actually. Said he wanted to go right back in, I believe."

"Well, that`s James." Anna chuckled.

James was ready to break up this happy little moment by stabbing his own eyeballs out with Anna`s quill. Why did the fates hate him so?

Trying to make an attempt at conversation, he asked, "Did you have a nice holiday, Evans?"

Poise never faltering, Lily replied, "Brilliant since you were so conveniently absent from it, Potter. Look, I`d love to stay and chat, but I`ve got a History of Magic test to study for. Bye Anna, Potter."

As Lily left, James was so very happy he`d chosen to move on to Anna. No more pining after that lost cause, with her beautifully vibrant hair and sharp wit… okay, so she was still perfect, but at least he had someone more realistic to help him get over her. It was a slow process.

"I like her." Anna chirped, before turning back to the chess board.

"_I used to."_ James wanted to say.

* * *

There were so many things Lily wanted to say to him back there, but Anna, with her bright eyes and blonde locks sat firmly in the way. It had every ounce of Gryffindor in Lily to keep up that exchange with James and his new girlfriend without cracking. She reminded Lily of another Ravenclaw Lily used to know, ages back. Ariana, who`d dated Remus until March of their fourth year, was the sweetest girl Lily had ever met. Although Anna had more of an edge, the two girls had the same cheerful cleverness.

It had been a while since Lily had seen Ariana around, actually. It wasn`t all that surprising though, since the two were in different houses, and Ariana took mostly Herbology classes.

Slowly, Lily`s mind drifted over the words Colleen had said the night before. She`d given it her best attempt, but clearly James was happier with Anna than he`d ever been around Lily. He`d been speechless after all, probably taken in by Anna`s charm.

Lily never should have listened to that infantile orange scribbling on the Fountain. Orange was a terrible color, anyway.

Now what?

Colleen had said to find someone with the experience and means to solve this problem. Unfortunately, none of Lily`s friends, while they were well versed in disposing in a wide variety of things, knew how to expel a thing like this.

Lily wished she was in fourth year again, when things had been so much simpler.

Well, actually they hadn`t. There had been drama then, too.

Maybe it was remembering Ariana, or the ever-present thoughts of James, or the thoughts of fourth year, but whatever the combination or process was, Lily arrived at the memory of the one person who might be able to have the solution or advice that Lily was looking for.

Madeline.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry this is going up later in the day, naturally the first day back on a set schedule things get crazy. Well, technically it is still Saturday, at least. Oh, and anyone who Madeline is, I`ll explain in the next chapter, but for it to make perfect sense you might want to look at Heartless Affections, a story I wrote earlier this year that takes place when Lily and James are fourth years. There will be references to this a lot in the next chapter, so be warned, but I`ll make it make sense for those of you who don`t want to read the other story (which is perfectly understandable, by the way).**


	7. Chapter 7

**In The Name Of All Things Pure**

"You`re insane." Emmeline said, eyes wide in horror.

Unfortunately at this point, Lily was beginning to feel like sanity was a luxury she could not afford. "It`s been two years… I`m not going to pretend that I think she would have forgotten, but a lot can change in two years. A lot did change in two years, and that`s the problem."

Signing slightly at the dramatics, Emmeline clung to the logic she knew Lily had come for. "Okay fine, so people change, but you need to keep in mind that this is the same girl who left you so sad and punch-soaked in forth year after that party that Mel _cut herself _to get you out of there. The fact that you were the reason James broke up with her back then, probably proving whatever mental theory she had going, just adds to the flames. Didn`t you call her a soulless snake last time you saw her? Even if she does hear you out and agrees to help you, there`s no saying what ulterior motives this girl might have."

"I agree with you that I can`t fully trust her, but face it, she might be the only one who can help me. Think about it: Madeline`s experienced in getting over James…"

"…due to you…"

"…she`s Hogwarts current foremost relationship expert, and according to the Fountain, smuggler of some pretty illegal love potions…"

"…also foremost drama queen, head of the Lily Evans Hate Club, and could totally use those potions against you…"

"…and maybe she can help me find the owner of the orange pen."

"The what now?"

"I saw this thing on the Fountain…It`s gone now, but it made me rethink some things and I want to meet the person who wrote it."

Emmeline took a deep breath. "Look, Lily. You came to me over Alice, Mattie, Mary, and Mel for a reason. I`m won`t judge you, I won`t tell, and I won`t kill you. You wanted the most unbiased opinion possible, but I think you should remember exactly why your best friends are biased. They don`t want to see you hurt by this girl again, and neither do I, but I`m not going to stop you if this is really what you want to do. I can respect your decision, but I`m not going to like it if you go with the crazy choice."

"Sometimes," Lily murmured, her mind stuck somewhere between the present and the past, "a little crazy is necessary. Thanks Em, and don`t worry about Madeline, I can handle her. After all, the unforgivable curses are illegal."

"It`s not Madeline I`m worried about." Replied Emmeline, but as Lily walked away, Emmeline wasn`t so sure her friend had heard, or whether she was too far gone, literally and figuratively.

* * *

"Figuratively and literally flying, and his hair was a nice shade of peach." Mattie said, and James laughed as the person in question`s face turned the color that their hair had apparently been, just a week prior.

"You`d had a couple drinks too then, Bell." Remus said in a vain attempt to reclaim any smidge of dignity left.

Before Mattie could retaliate, Sirius swaggered over and plopped down in the seat opposite James, smirking like lightning proceeding thunder. "Got your money together, Bell?"

"What are you blathering on about?"

"Well, I may remember you placing twenty quid on something only I ever thought would happen…"

The table exchanged the typical looks of criticism at the betting habits of the duo, while Mattie persisted, "Look, Black, you could be talking about any number of things at this point, so excuse me if I…"

"You know…" Interrupted Sirius, "I had this lovely talk with Evans the other day… quite _fanciful_. She and I exchanged many a thought, even some strange things she has recently concluded."

Mattie`s eyes widened, and she grabbed him by the tie, dragging him towards the door. As the two left the table, James heard her hiss, "Sirius Orion Black, you greedy little dog. Why would you do that there?! Why would you do that at all?! If you actually talked to her and cared, I`d have thought you`d have the…"

The chattering Hufflepuff beaters who were loudly (and probably more than advisably so) going over the upcoming game blocked James`s line of sight, and when he was able to get a clear view of the doors again, they were gone.

From behind the _Daily Prophet_, Peter stifled a laugh. "Hopefully Willa doesn't come back from the bathroom in the next five minutes, or she`s going to seethe."

James smiled at the thought of Sirius` momentary girlfriend walking up to Mattie mid-fury. Due to his extensive reputation, Sirius` girlfriends were always jealous of the so-called "harem" of women that always seem to be around. In reality, as Mary had once said, they were insecure of their temporary situation being jeopardized by the longstanding and ever constant Mattie, Mary, and Mel.

"Toast me." Lily said, easily snatching the tossed toast from the air. "What Potter, only half the fan club today?"

Mattie slid back into her seat, a satisfied smile playing on her lips. "Willa Wonderful isn`t going to be lasting very long. No remark, James?"

"What`d you do?" he asked.

"Oh, I threw him into a tapestry and was in the middle of a very heated discussion when she happened to come over just as he was yelling about synonyms for love, and instead of a thesaurus lesson, she thought she had stumbled upon his declaration of love for me." Mattie said with a breath of laughter, emphasizing the extremeness of the misinterpretation. "Oh, and I meant Lily`s remark. You know, the one you are obligated to answer with a wittily derogatory response?"

James could feel the entire table`s eyes on him, and forced himself to remember his house and his resolution before he replied, "Yeah, but aren`t we getting a bit old for that banter?"

"Wow," Mel said, after a pregnant pause. "Maybe that Ravenclaw of yours is really rubbing off on you."

Exchanging a look, Peter and Remus both couldn`t resist from blurting, "…in more ways than one…"

He rolled his eyes and promised to kill them later, seemingly not noticing that Lily had walked off or that Sirius had taken her place. But James` seeming or real lack of attention to the switch was disrupted anyway, when Mattie thumped an already shabby-looking Sirius in the arm and declared, "Twenty quid! He`s given up teasing Lily!"

"Didn`t we just have a talk about this?" Sirius persisted, but Mattie dismissed the hypocrisy with another jab to the shoulder. "Fine."

After forking over the money, Sirius muttered, "Now when can I get my money?"

"When it`s for sure."

"When what`s for sure?" James asked innocently.

"NOTHING!" The duo cried exasperatedly.

Holding up his hands in surrender, James went back to his toast.

* * *

In a motion akin to holding up her hands in surrender, Lily went back to where this madness had started: the Fountain.

Of all the places in the school to go on a Friday morning, the girl`s second floor bathroom was not high on many people`s lists, so the walk was fairly quiet, with only the occasional ghost or painting for company. Even Peeves had better things to do, so unfortunately she reached the bathroom undeterred, and right on time.

Stepping inside, the room was very much the same as it had been weeks ago even years ago, the only apparent change being the obvious rotation of splattered ink upon the infamous wall. Lily looked up; searching for the orange scrawl that had set this all in motion, but it was a futile search, due to the constant rotating cast of characters the Fountain contained. Someone had covered it up with a caricature of the Divination teacher.

"Lily Evans." A girl stepped out of the shadows, and leaded up against a stall. "I never thought you`d be the type to come in here."

"Well, it`s a girls bathroom, and I am a girl."

The girl rolled her eyes. "You didn`t come here to use the bathroom though, did you? And I would guess what you`re not just here to admire the wall either."

"Do you know if there is any way I could arrange a private meeting with a certain Hufflepuff sixth year?"

"Well, you could go up to her in the Great Hall like a normal person…"

Lily shook her head. "Talking to Madeline is already going to cause a scene, I don`t need it to be in front of the whole school. I`m assuming you know her, right?"

Ignoring the question, the hazel-eyed girl asked one of her own. "What would _you_ want to talk to Madeline about?"

"That`s my business."

"Suit yourself." The girl shrugged. "I`ll ask her when she`s free. Expect a message later on today."

Lily watched as the girl walked past her, heading for the door, but stopped before her hand reached the knob. "Oh, and Lily?"

"Hmm?"

"If you`re looking for help… I`d prepare something to bargain with."

* * *

"Are you really trying to bargain with me?" Sirius scoffed. "I thought you were better than that, mate."

Rubbing his face wearily, James focused on what he had heard. "Look, I`m just trying to cut you a break here. Last chance to tell…"

"Sorry Prongsie, but secrets are for keeping."

"Actually, I thought you always said they were for sharing." James looked up with a glint in his eyes. "So you told her."

"Who?" Sirius asked casually, although his best mate was able to detect the fear behind the usual apathetic façade.

"Mattie. You told her I was moving on. That`s why she flipped on you when you mention Lily, to prevent you from being insensitive and rubbing it in." James declared, proud of his deduction skills. Sirius, however, said nothing, but the silence was a very relieved one.

Fiddling with his wand, Sirius was clearly struggling for words. However, James was not facing the same problem. "I understand, Padfoot, and it`s not like anything bad has come out of it, if she`s on our side. I`m just confused as to why you told her."

"Well…" Sirius settled back in his seat. "I didn`t so much tell her. She confronted me and guessed it herself, after how you`ve been acting it`s hardly a surprise. She`s worried about you, mate."

"Oh." James said, pleasantly shocked. "For a second I thought something was going on between you two."

"Mattie? As in, Matilda Bell? No way. She only glances my way when she`s criticizing me. I swear, she`s one of the only girls in this school who constantly finds a fault. Besides, she`s already interested in Evan Scott. Also, I do not share my friend`s secrets, no matter what." Sirius patted James on the back, and summoned the map.

James snatched the map out of his friend`s hands. "You can go back to charms, if you`d like."

"Yeah, but what`s the fun in that?"

* * *

Lily found no fun in the rest of the day, her mind consumed in thought about Madeline`s reply.

It was after the last class had ended that it finally came.

"I though today would never end." Alice complained loudly, brightening only at the passing Sir Nickolas.

Mary shuffled her bag higher onto her arm, pained under the weight of the day`s workload. "I did. Thank Merlin there`s a game tomorrow, I really need something to scream at."

"Screaming is nice." Agreed Mattie, as a second year ran bolted around the corner, plowing through Mel and Mary in the process and sending books flying. Lily backed up against a wall, just as a fair haired boy with wide eyes walked up to her and pressed a wad of paper into her hand.

"You`re lucky."

As the smoke cleared, Lily saw the others cleaning up the explosion and Mary scolding the runner, as the boy disappeared the way he`d come.

Picking up the scattered mess, Lily subtly unfolded the note and read the elegantly scrawled message.

_Breakfast, in the kitchens. It better be good._

Lucky? Lily wasn`t so sure about that.

* * *

"I wouldn`t doubt it."

"Really? Then where`s his books? If it was a date, Longbottom wouldn`t need textbooks."

"Come off it, this is the fourth 'study' session this week, and I think we all know he has yet to hand in the charms work that was due Tuesday, so the real question is…what aren`t they doing?"

Remus whacked his friend with a pillow. "Come on, for Alice`s sake."

"Speaking of strange relationships, where`s Anna been?" Peter asked.

"Ravenclaws, unlike Longbottoms, like to get their work done before engaging in other activities."

"Mate, I don`t even know who you burned in that one." Sirius said as the room fell into vexatious laughter.

Shaking his head, James waited for the noise to die down before he asked, "Can you guys sit with us tomorrow, during the match?"

"Don`t you have detention?"

"Yeah, but I have the feeling they`ll let me out early, none of the teachers like missing quiddich, especially not McGonagall."

"Good luck with that, Prongs. We`ll keep your girlfriend company for you." Sirius smiled slyly.

"Oh no you won`t. Remus, you`re in charge of keeping him away from her."

* * *

"I can do this." Lily whispered to herself, descending the stairs and trying to not look like a girl on a death march.

It was a pretty safe bet that no Hufflepuffs would catch her snooping around by their common room, since they were all probably upstairs already, eating up before the big game. The problem wouldn`t be getting to the kitchens safely, or coming out unharmed. The biggest thing that worried Lily was how on earth she was going to get Madeline to help her.

Following the instructions she`d overheard Peter telling Alice earlier that week, she found the painting of the fruit, and hesitated momentarily before tickling the pear.

What if it was a trap? What if she`d possessed the house elves? What if Madeline had filled the room with her cronies, ready to kidnap Lily?

Fortunately, there were no cronies or house elves (probably out making beds while everyone was going to the match) to be seen.

Only Madeline.

"So, Lillian Evans." She said, stirring a pot on the stove casually.

The age-old dig still managed to get under Lily`s skin, not that she showed it. "Madeline."

Lily was not one to force empty sentences, which was just as well, because Madeline would have ignored them anyway. "What do you want?"

"To talk."

Madeline`s laugh was short but real, and intimidating as ever. "Really. You`ve gone two years without ever giving me another thought, and now you finally want to take it all back and be _best friends_." She sung the last two words, mockery dripping from every syllable.

"You expect me to believe that crap, Evans? As you well know, I`m not an idiot, so cut it. What do you want?" Madeline turned her back on Lily, focusing on the stove.

"What were you talking about?"

"Huh?" She spun. "What do you need me to explain? The definition of the word 'idiot', perhaps?"

Taking a deep breath, Lily hoped she wasn`t making a huge mistake. "Two years ago, when I briefly was hanging around Sirius and his idiots, you said something about me making James fall in love with me."

"I probably did. So that's what this is? A trip down memory lane, one that you throw my words back at me and laugh again at your success?"

"Merlin, not this again." Muttered Lily. "I wasn`t aiming to break you and James up!"

"But you did, in the end. Intended or not, it was your fault."

"Yeah, it was. I`m not going to apologize."

"I didn`t expect you to." Smirked Madeline over her pots. "James and I weren`t going to work out anyway. Clearly he was head-over-heels in love with you way before I ever stepped into the picture. At first I just thought he was a bit spaced out, but as soon as you came along, things became pretty clear. I think it`s hilarious that it took you so long to notice, especially after I basically told you years ago."

"You knew? He didn`t even really know himself, he only started really asking me out after you two broke up! Why did you date him if you could see…" Lily trailed off, confused.

"Oh, I knew. I always knew, Lily. Maybe I had my doubts to start off, but as soon as I saw how he was around you that night I spilled your punch, I totally got it. You might have been invited by Sirius, and I may have been confused by all the facades running around that night, but there was no way I couldn`t recognize real love when I saw it. I figured you must have drugged him, because I`d never seen a fourth year so deeply submerged in it before."

Again, Lily was floored. "Love? I though he liked you, though…why else…"

"Oh, he liked me, but he loved you. Deep down I always knew his heart was somewhere else, though I could change that at first, I suppose it was for the best." Madeline went back to stir the pots, carefully not inhaling any of the vapors spilling over the top.

"That`s ridiculous." Lily stated blatantly. "We were fourth years, there`s no way that was real."

"That`s what I thought, but if you aren`t lying, then it was real alright. He just had exceptionally bad timing, as do you, apparently."

"Do you know how to fix things?"

"I might." She smirked. "Who says I would even help _you_, if I did? You have called me a snake, among other things. Does this mean, by the way, that you have actually _fallen_ for James Potter?"

"What if I have?" Replied Lily sharply.

Again Madeline laughed, and Lily felt her face turn pink. "You`ve called him horrible, terrible things, and completely sworn him off. Excuse me if I take a moment to appreciate this wonderful, ironic moment."

After a huff of annoyed impatience, Lily asked, "Do you know a way to help me, or are you just doing this to relish in my demise?"

"Believe me, relishing is a big part of this, but I don`t know if what I have to say is altogether unhelpful." Madeline paused thoughtfully. "I do, however, am extremely happy in relishing that I absolutely knew that you are more than capable of manipulation."

"Did you agree to meet me just to reiterate this? I was not doing anything ill-intended two years ago!"

"Ah! But you`re on the verge of it now." Moving closer in the deserted kitchen, Madeline broke into a sly smile. "What exactly was your plan for Anna?"

Lily faltered. "I never…"

"Ha! See, you were planning something, I knew it. You thought about it, don`t deny it."

"I came here so I wouldn`t." Lily admitted softly.

"And I`m here to protect another Ravenclaw. I know Ariana turned out alright in the end, but what I feared for Ariana is still out there, Lily. Still possible. So here`s what I want."

Taking a seat on a bag of flour, Lily asked, "Yeah?"

"Promise me you won`t let him break her heart, no matter the cost."

Lily knew this was not something she could take lightly, especially since the pots on the stove were filling the room with a frightening fog, making Madeline all the more dangerous. "I promise."

"Good." Taking two vials from a bag on the counter, Madeline expertly filled up each with the contents of one of the pots. "Do you know what I`ve been doing these past few years?"

"No…?"

"You really must be hopeless to come to me, then. It`s a good thing you did though, because I may just be able to help you." She mused. "So the past few years, I`ve been helping people manage problems by making simple potions out of textbooks from the library. Luck potions, memory potions, and such, you know simple stuff. Eventually, I began to get requests for love and lust potions, so I expanded my horizons, and here I am, the super successful businesswomen you see before you today! Now, since there are no free lunches…" Madeline held the smoking vials just out of Lily`s reach, "Tell me why I should help you."

"I promised!"

Melody smirked. "Promises don`t get me new cloaks."

"Fine." Lily sighed, and pulled out her bargaining chip.

"You`re giving me a muggle car freshener."

"I`m surprised you know what it is…except that you don`t. See, if you put this on the knob of a broom closet, it will hide whoever is inside from prefects and teachers. I figured you would want it."

"Stole it from a Marauder?"

"Actually, I made it especially for the occasion." Lily slid it onto the counter. "Oh, and since you added the promise, I get to make you promise something too."

"Fine, whatever." Madeline said, not taking her eyes off the prize.

"Leave me and my friends alone, completely, after this."

"Done." She said, daintily handing off the vials before snatching up the car freshener.

Lily studied the spoils. One was a smoky purple, swirling ominously, and the other was pearly white, almost frighteningly so. "What do they do?"

Sighing, as if Lily should be able to know these trivial things about potions she`d never heard of, Madeline replied, "One, I give to clients after a bad break up. It will oblivate you, and enable a few happy hours as your inner self comes to terms with what has happened. So far, it`s helped most of my clients. The other one… well, it`s experimental. I`m not totally sure yet, since I only tested it on frogs, but I think it eliminates fear temporarily. Either that, or self-control… I don`t know. I`d be careful with that one."

Madeline swished her wand, evaporating the rest of the pot`s contents, and gave Lily one last maniacal grin. "Oh yeah, and I`m totally not telling you which one is which. Have fun!"

* * *

"Oh, I`m sure it will be loads of fun."

"Come on, James. Is it really that bad?" his girlfriend asked.

Remus added unhelpfully, "McGonagall`s personally overseeing it. I hear this is the first match she`s missing in ages, just to head up a detention."

James` head collapsed in his hands.

"Like you said though, maybe she`ll let you see the last five minutes of the game!"

"I wouldn`t count on it." Remus remarked, earning him a swift blow to the ribs from Peter. "Ooph."

"Well, I have to get going, or McGonagall will hex me to next week."

"Meet us in the kitchens after the game, yeah? Maybe if they win the Hufflepuffs will be generous enough to invite us to their party."

"Sounds like a plan." James consented.

* * *

**A/N: Again, if you`re confused, just skim Heartless Affections. I`m sorry if things are confusing.**

**Also, I am regretfully sorry to inform you that I probably won`t be able to keep to the schedule in the next couple of weeks. I`ve been in and out of the hospital (nothing too serious, don`t worry) the past week and it`s a miracle I was able to pull through with this chapter in time. But due to that, I may get behind for a little while, and I hope you guys understand that I`ll try to get back into things as soon as possible.**

**Thanks again for all your excellent reviews!**


	8. Chapter 8

Cheers roared from the quiddich pitch at an earth-shattering volume, and James enviously flicked a shred of parchment off of his desk. The only thing worse than having to go to detention during a quiddich match was having McGonagall personally supervising said detention. She hadn`t even assigned him a chore to do either, as was usually custom for detentions. Although that, he supposed, might be because the school had run out of trophies needing polishing and closets needing cleaning, as the Marauders racked up so many detentions that they personally managed the upkeep of those sorts of things.

"How much longer?"

McGonagall looked up from the papers she`d been grading. "As long as it takes, Mr. Potter. You know how it goes."

Out the window, the stands erupted into hoots and a rain of stomping feet. James sunk his head into his hands, groaning. It was impossible to see anything from here.

* * *

Lily sighed, realizing it was going to be impossible for this game to end well.

"…Watch it there Mr. Burton, I believe you`ve left your ability to aim back in the locker room. Ooh, and it would appear your brain must be with it, what a move from Thompson! Lu receives from Thompson, takes it up the field, nice dodge…"

Since McGonagall was off overseeing a certain miscreant's detention, Melody was unstoppable. Alice was shaking her head, while her boyfriend and Mary laughed on either side. Even Mattie was amazed at how far their friend was pushing it today, eyebrows raised in amusement from her spot next to Evan.

"…Martin intersects, seems to be maintain possession despite the many attempts of the Hufflepuff beaters… let`s not give him a concussion, alright guys? Hey, Martin goes for a shot… Ooh, but Tess whacked that one away just in the nick of time, what a save. It would appear that in the stands, Tess` boyfriend has stood up on his seat in excitement, aww, I`d say he`s a keeper. Well, actually she _is_." Mel laughed at her own joke. "Has Malory seen the snitch? False alarm, it appears she has developed a peculiar fascination with the Forbidden Forrest. Oi, look at that dive…but it`s all for nothing. Harper Horrible has managed to get her grubby mitts on the quaffle, and is not letting go…"

"She must be mad, to ramble on like that the whole time." Evan remarked. There was no detectable change in Mattie`s expression, but her back straightened slightly and her posture dramatically improved. To the ordinary person, this would be nothing, but Lily knew Mattie took pride her poor posture, and it was her naturally relaxed state. Catching Mary`s eye, Lily knew this date of sorts would not end well for the unfortunate Evan Scott.

Her face a mask of fake confusion, Mattie asked innocently, "Why would she have to be mad to talk?"

"The words, they just keep on jumping out, like she has nothing in her brain stopping it."

There was now a perfect 90 degree angle between Mattie`s spine and the bench. Uh-oh. "It`s her job to announce, and you have to talk fast so there isn`t dead air. It`s hard to constantly talk. So you`re saying her being good at her job and having enough quick wit to come up with constant interesting topics for the entirety of the match is a sign of brain deficiency? That doesn`t seem reasonable to me, and I always thought you were the reasonable sort of guy."

The dead air from Evan that followed seemed to further prove her point, and Lily noticed a smirk sneaking across Sirius` face.

"So Lily, why on earth did you go to the library so early this morning?" Mary asked, hoping for a change in subject.

"It`s Lily, does she need a reason?" Peter replied, blessedly giving her enough time to think of an alibi.

"I was just getting a head start on studying for the Potions test we`ve got coming up, that`s all."

The vials felt like lead in her pockets. There had been potions, alright.

"…Ninety minutes in, and not a single team has scored! The chasers are getting anxious now, Hufflepuff needing that win to stay in the season… Crowe makes a spectacular pass to his Slytherin comrade Rockler, that`s the sort of moves they need to keep up in order to win…"

James would be on the edge of his seat, too bad he was missing this. Ugh, Lily tried to shake him from her head. He`d be all over that Ravenclaw girlfriend of his anyway. Again, the illegal potions called to her from their pocket.

"….HHHHOOOOPKINS! Ahh, cleared at the last second. Somebody`s got to score here, guys…"

Above, the seekers were getting anxious, jumping at the smallest flashes of gold. This was quite often, due to the excess of Hufflepuff attire in the stadium that day.

"Dave Abbot seems to finally have woken up back there… hold up, Malory is now bolting across the pitch at what might be-is it? Yes, the snitch has been sighted at last! This could win it for Hufflepuff if she can pull this one through. The bludgers can`t touch her, and everything`s coming up… Oi, Stanford! Oh, so not cool man. No way is this guy gonna…"

The whistle sounded as Stanford's hand closed around the snitch.

"Whoa, that is so unfair. Stanford shoved the Hufflepuff seeker out of the way moments before the catch, and it looks like the ref is ignoring the blatant foul play and is calling the game for Slytherin! Unbelievable. What is this world coming to with that lying, cheating, scum of the Earth being hailed as a hero? I demand justice! Unfair conduct!"

Up in the stands, things had broken out into utter chaos. Not-so-gentle Hufflepuffs were forming a mob, and blows were exchanged between Slytherin and Hufflepuff supports alike. Some people had resorted to muggle violence, and forgotten their wands entirely. The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were even getting into it, standing up for what was reasonable and protecting their friends. Remus, Frank, Peter, and Alice had been swept away in the scuffle, and Evan had put himself between Mattie and a bulk of the rioters in a movement of chivalry.

"Let me get past!" Mattie yelled over the din. "I`m going to go make sure Mel doesn`t get herself hurt. Those Slytherins might try to shut her up or something…"

"No, she`ll be fine, go back inside with me, you`ll only get yourself hurt going in there."

Lily held on to the bench as to not be shoved away as Mattie roll her eyes and declared, "Sisters before misters, Evan, step aside."

"I`m not going to…" She didn`t even wait for him to finish, making him go shooting out of the way with a flick of her wand instead.

"Yeah, I`m afraid you are."

Unable to break through to catch up to Mattie, Lily searched around frantically for a familiar face, until she felt a strong arm grab her and pull her towards the exit. "Sirius?"

"Are you always this helpful in a fight, Evans? Like a lost kitten, you were. You`re welcome, by the way."

"You have to go get McGonagall!" She pleaded.

"Why?" Always smirking, that boy was. "I rather like riots. Madness is my middle name, after all."

"You said last week it was Danger."

"Nah, that`s Potter."

"Oh, wait! Remus told me, Orion, right?"

"Shhh!" They were under the risers now, beneath the trampling protest.

"Come on, Black. Do you want someone to get hurt up there? Mattie has a point, Mel angered a lot of Slytherins at the end there, if the match wasn`t bad enough. Besides, you`re the only one who knows what room Potter`s in."

"Oh, alright Evans. You and your supposedly pure heart has temporarily pointed my Blackened soul in the right direction. Just keep your wand out, okay?"

After Sirius too ran off, Lily tried not to tremble as a heavy object slammed the boards above her.

Who knew Hufflepuffs could fight like that?

Speaking of… Lily removed the vials from her pocket. They were thankfully untouched by the chaos, but still viciously swirling as the moment they`d been contained.

Purple, white. Fearless, recovery. Or was it the other way around? White looked like it would be the memory one, since oblivate cleared minds, and white was a clear color…but this was hazy…

She didn`t trust the purple one. It was dark enough to harbor sinister substances. Well…she didn`t trust the other one either.

But something had to be done.

Maybe the madness above was contagious, because in a crazed rush, Lily closed her eyes, unpopped a cork, and chugged one of the vials.

* * *

When James opened his eyes, the quiddich noise was still echoing across the grounds, but something was different. It only took seconds for it to register: McGonagall was gone. The room, apart from him, was vacant.

He must still be dreaming.

That foolish thought disappeared, however, when he rubbed his eye.

"Oi! What…?"

Foamy goo covered his arms, face, shoulders, back, desk, and everything in the general area of James that he`d been lounging on.

Padfoot.

It only took a wave of his wand to remove the shaving cream, but James knew the gesture meant something more. The Marauder's may not try very hard in class but that did not mean at all that they were not intelligent. McGonagall had been called away by Sirius…why?

Since McGonagall had left, James figured he was free to go. The halls were eerily empty, not the rousing corridors you would typically find after a match. Was the match even over?

No, it couldn`t be. Turning away from the steps down to the kitchens, James began to hear a dull roar of noise. The frosted windows didn`t let him see much, but he could tell there was people on the pitch, but not in the air. It must have just ended, apparently. A congratulatory mob.

"James?"

He turned from the windows. "Lily?"

Cloak torn at the sleeve, no scarf, but no wand in sight. Her hair was in a mad disarray, a halo of fire.

"Lily?" He asked again, because he wasn`t quite sure. There was something different about her eyes.

Then it hit him.

She was looking at him. Really looking at him. Not furiously, as she had the first few years he`d known her, and her gaze was steady, unlike the last few months, where he couldn`t remember a time when she had held his gaze for longer than a two seconds at a time. This, this was definitely longer than two seconds. The only time she`d ever looked at him anything like this was the night he`d found her in the owlery, but there had been tears then.

Now, it was just them. And James saw Lily, the real unaffected Lily, for the first time since he`d seen her on the train to Hogwarts, before he`d even known her name.

And now, as then, he knew he was in love.

"Kiss me." She breathed, pressing him up against the windows, a hand tangling through his hair.

Okay.

James was sooo ready to finally close the gap that had been ever present between them, the one that was so close to popping now, when his stupid brain kicked in.

Never.

His eyes flew open.

Lily Evans would never do something like this. Who was this girl?

"Lily?" He asked frantically, pushing himself out from between her and the window.

"Hmm? What`s wrong, James?"

"You`ve never…you`ve never called me James before in your life. What happened to you? What`s going on?"

She blinked, obviously confused. "This is me, James, haven`t you always wanted this to happen? I`m not being scared anymore. It`s inevitable, you`ve always said it. So kiss me."

Voices were getting closer. He had to get psycho-Lily out of here, before she took a turn for the worse.

"I`m sorry, love, but you`ll never forgive me if I allow you to stay this way. You`ll thank me soon, hopefully." James said remorsefully as he dragged the love-struck girl into a broom closet.

"Good thinking." Lily whispered gleefully as the door clicked shut behind her. "This way we`ll have more privacy."

Trying to think of anything but the redhead besides him, James dug rapidly through his robes, finally pulling out his mirror. "Black! Hey, Padfoot!"

There was a flickering of shadows before a face popped up, but it was not the scruffy haired miscreant he was looking for. It was, however, a miscreant in general.

"James?" Mattie`s expression changed from shock to appreciation in a flash. "Whoa, this thing is awesome!"

"Where`s Sirius?"

"Probably on his way back to the common room. He left his cloak under the seat when the riot started; Mel and I found it after McGonagall started breaking the crowd up a bit."

"Riot? Never mind, you can fill me in later, something`s come up. Lily`s acting all weird, I think she`s been hit on the head."

"Mattie?" Lily spotted her friend in the mirror. "Hey! Have you told him yet? Waiting doesn`t make things better, you know. The only way is to get it out there so you either move forward or move on!"

"What`s she talking about?" Asked James as the girl on the other end turn a shade of peach.

Melody said something James couldn`t hear on the other end, and Mattie replied (to him), "I haven`t the slightest idea. What did you say happened to her?"

"I don`t really know. I just ran into her in the corridor, where she tried to pin me against the wall and kiss me. I dragged her into a broom closet to limit the damage. "

Again there was a murmur on the other end he couldn`t really make out, and Mattie suppressed a snicker. "Huh?"

Mel leaned into view. "Maybe someone hexed her on her way out of the stands."

"No," Mattie speculated, "Those are usually not that strong, and last only a short while, unless she`s been improvised. Check her hands, does it look like she has the remainder of any suspicious food she could have accidently ingested? Rob Parson ate a tampered scone once that had a love potion in it, he was bizarre for a week before anyone realized."

Lily didn`t appear to have anything odd on her hands or face, but he noticed something strange sticking out of her pocket. It was a single glass flask, no stopper to be found. Upon further inspection, he found another vial in her other pocket, this one filled with a terrible purple liquid. Stamped on top of the cork was an intricate design that hurt his eyes to look at.

"I think she`s drunk some sort of illegal potion. That`s very unlike her…there`s another one in here, still full." He held up his finds so they could see.

"Huh."

The girls were quiet for a moment before Mel requested, "Turn the top of the cork towards us for a sec…"

At the sight of the symbol, both girls gasped in horror. "You don`t think…?"

"It can`t be. How could she even…?"

"What is it?" James demanded.

The duo looked to each other, then back at the screen. "We`ll get back to you on that."

After a tiny wave to Lily, the faces disappeared.

"James?" Lily whispered in the darkness, and he prepared himself for the worst. "I think you have me pushed up against the light switch."

"Oh, hold on…" There was a brief period of shuffling, and the wandlight was soon amplified by the bulb above.

Lily looked less alert than she had before, but had the same unhindered gaze. "Do you love her?"

"Lily…"

"Do you? Be honest please. I need to know."

Meeting her eyes, James could see that she was holding her breath. "No."

"No?"

"Love isn`t easy Evans, but she is my girlfriend."

She signed, but it turned into a yawn halfway. Neither of them said anything more about Anna, or could think of anything more they were able to truthfully say, and she slowly slid down and sat on the grubby floor. Figuring it could be a while until Mattie and Mel figured this out, he joined her.

There was still a bit of shaving cream behind his ear that James had missed with his spell. Wiping it off, he realized Lily was laughing softly next to him.

"What`s so funny?"

"It`s just that… So I had two potions, one to make me forget you, and one that basically erases self-control –Madeline called it fearless, but I think shortsighted or daring are better words for it, to be honest- and there was a fifty percent chance of me choosing the one that would make this all go away…but somehow, some sadistic fates must be conspiring against me, because despite my efforts, we just keep ending up like this."

"On the floor, with something wrong with you?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of me making stupid agreements, then stupid decisions, and yeah, ending up on the floor."

"You`re sentimental when you`ve been drugged, Evans."

"I drugged myself, actually."

"Why in Merlin`s name would you even consider doing that?"

"Stupid decisions, remember?" She yawned again, resting her head on his shoulder. "James?"

"Hmm?"

"I was trying to forget."

"Is this you apologizing for assaulting me in the hall?"

Lily snorted. "Psh, no. That`s for when this thing wears off."

"I was trying to forget you too." James admitted, partially to himself, because he wasn`t sure the drowsy girl could hear him anymore…but she totally could.

"I guess we both suck at that, then." Closing her eyes, Lily asked, "Are you mad at me?"

"No?"

"I am, or at least I will be. Stupid standards and all that, you know. I will regret this… but I really do l-"

"Lily." James begged, not wanting to have to hear anything he`d been waiting to hear for the first time cross her lips while she was under the influence of some powerful drug. It would only hurt her later, and him too.

"I know. But someone had to say it."

Her voice grew so soft; he could barely hear it anymore. "I don`t want her to be hurt. I really didn`t. That`s why. I was only trying to take the easy way out, not cause more problems by taking that gamble. I hope she makes you happy, because that`s what matters, right?"

"Yeah."

James shifted his arm a little, but it didn`t stop her from using it as her personal pillow. "I`m sorry about one thing, though."

"What`s that?"

"I`m sorry I never called you James. Remember, when you asked me to in fourth year? I was too proud. You were an idiot, but I was too proud to just give you what you wanted so you`d leave me alone. If I had just said your name, none of this would have ever happened."

He remembered that day clearly, and all the anger and heartache he'd felt since. "It`s alright, I probably would have hexed Snape the next day anyway; I was a little prat."

There was a pause in the conversation, and James waited diligently for her reply, until he heard the steadiness in her breathing and realized she`d fallen asleep sometime in the last minute. By the time the torrent of footfalls came down the corridor outside, James himself had almost slipped into the contagious slumber.

"It was Madeline!" Mattie declared, throwing the door open. Only slightly fazed by the scene inside, she poked James with her foot. "Has she passed out yet?"

He stood up, careful not to let Lily`s head fall. "About five minutes ago, yeah."

"Good, whatever she`s drank will apparently have worn off by the time she wakes up. Can you help us get her back up to our room?"

"Sure. Wasn`t Madeline able to tell you what it was?"

"Madeline wouldn`t talk to us." Mel replied. "We talked to a friend of hers. Apparently, she remembers the potato incident of fourth year…"

Relieved, James lifted the sleeping girl up and followed the others back to the common room. Unfortunately, Melody had not forgotten the details of their earlier conversation.

"So, did you guys kiss or what?"

"I have a girlfriend." He reminded her evenly, a fact he had to remind himself as Sleeping Lily nestled into his shoulder.

Mattie didn`t bother suppressing a wicked grin. "That didn`t answer her question."

"No, I didn`t. She just pinned me against a window, and I used all my strength to wrangle myself out and get us out of there before she did something we would both regret."

"Did you want to?" Melody raised an eyebrow, bumping his hip slightly in a way that made him afraid he was going to drop Lily.

James sighed. "What are you two, bloody third years? I`d remind you of Anna, but that appears to have no influence on you two."

"Mmhmm…" Mattie bumped into his other side. "Come on, Potter. We won`t tell her."

"Anna or Lily?"

"Both. Either. Whichever you`d like."

"Yeah, alright."

At first, they didn`t register this as their answer, but it only took a moment before the celebration began.

"Cool it, you two, I mean it!" James hissed. "If my girlfriend gets word of this… I know I`m a player and have hurt a lot of nice girls, but she`s one I`d like to spare if I can."

"Oh, don`t worry about a thing, Captain." Mattie winked.

Melody smiled. "You can trust us."

* * *

"He really shouldn`t have trusted you two." Lily smirked, settling back into her bed. Her roommates were crowded around her, sharing in the tale of the last hour.

"Oh, we know."

"Speaking of trust, you really shouldn`t have gone to Madeline."

Rolling her eyes, Lily replied, "I handled it!"

"…and ended up in a broom closet, passed out on the shoulder of the very boy you`d been trying to forget."

"Urg." Lily collapsed her face into a pillow. "I won`t be able to look him in the eyes for weeks."

"So nothing`s changed."

"Everything`s changed." Melody corrected. "From here on out, it should be really easy, so long as Potter`s got the guts to do what needs to be done."

"We`re doomed."


End file.
